
Beauveria bassiana 203

Trials

Against other insects
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What is Beauveria bassiana 203?
Beauveria bassiana is a fungus that controls insects in nature. It also survives by decomposing dead plant material in soils throughout much of the world. Recent studies indicate that it interacts with plants, activating their defenses and transporting nutrients, from insects in the soil to the roots of plants (Behie and Bidochka 2014 and Gómez-Vidal et al., 2009).
Beauveria bassiana, as a species, groups an infinity of individuals (strains or isolates), which behave differently both in the laboratory and the field. During the work developed by the University of Alicante, different isolates of this species were used. Beauveria bassiana isolate 203 (Bb203) was the one that obtained the best result when facing adults and larvae of the red palm weevil.
Under laboratory conditions, Bb203 kills 100% of larvae in about 3-4 days and 100% of adults in 10-12 days.
This type of fungus recognizes the “skin” (cuticle) of the insect and its spores (reproductive structures of these organisms) germinate. After this, it sticks on the insect and secretes substances that degrade the cuticle and help it penetrate into the insect’s interior. Once inside the insect, it multiplies by consuming the nutrients of the insect which dies by starvation, toxins produced by the fungus and / or by the invasion of all its organs. Later, the fungus will emerge to the surface and it will produce more spores, which will help to disperse Bb203 to the rest of the population of red palm weevil.
Behie, S. W., &Bidochka, M. J. (2014). Ubiquity of insect-derived nitrogen transfer to plants by endophytic insect-pathogenic fungi: an additional branch of the soil nitrogen cycle.Applied and environmentalmicrobiology, 80(5), 1553-60.
Gómez-Vidal, Sonia & Salinas, Jesús & Tena, Manuel &Lopez-Llorca, Luis. (2009). Proteomic analysis of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) responses to endophytic colonization by entomopathogenic fungi. Electrophoresis. 30. 2996-3005. 10.1002/elps.200900192.
Bio-assay homologated in Canary palm
Crop: trials in Canary palms of 1 meter of stipe in field conditions.
Location: Elche (southeast of Spain) in an area infested with red palm weevil.
Dosage: 1200-1800g / palm tree.
Number of applications per year: 3.
Number of plants treated: 401.
Number of plants not treated: 588.
Type of test: destructive.
Number of plants destroyed for the data collection: 4 replicas of 3 palm trees each, randomly selected.
Product: Phoemyc +, product based on Beauveria bassiana 203 (Bb203).
First application date of the product: 5/1/2011.
Second application date of the product: 1/5/2011.
Third application date of the product: 6/9/2011.
Result: after three applications of Phoemyc + a reduction of the population level in treated palms was registered by 82%.
Live Insects | ||
---|---|---|
23/02/2011 | 26/03/2012 | |
Control | 26 | 102 |
Bb203 | 28 | 18 |
Against other insects
After the homologated trials carried out, it was assessed that Beauveria bassiana 203 does not act by contact against Apis mellifera (bee). Althoughhigh efficacy has been observed against other insect pests, especially weevils. Therefore, currently Glen Biotech is immersed in the development of new applications of this new active substance, Beauveria bassiana 203.