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Influence of humidity on the infection of western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), by Beauveria bassiana

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Abstract

The insecticidal activity of Beauveria bassiana GHA derived from a commercial mycoinsecticide BotaniGard ES against Frankliniella occidentalis was determined in a bioassay by dipping the female adults into a conidial suspension. The 90% lethal concentration of B. bassiana GHA was estimated to be 9.7 × 106 conidia/ml. The lethal times for achieving 90% mortality of thrips inoculated with a 1/500-diluted solution of BotaniGard ES and a 107.5 (3.16 × 107) conidia/ml suspension of B. bassiana GHA were estimated to be five and six days, respectively. When the treated thrips were exposed to a high relative humidity (RH) of over 99% for various periods and then transferred to 60% RH, the requisite lengths of the high-humidity period to achieve 90% mortality of the thrips at six days after inoculation were estimated to be 46 and 47 h in BotaniGard ES and B. bassiana GHA, respectively. Fungal multiplication in the thrips was detected between 48 to 60 h after inoculation by measuring Beauveria-specific DNA in the host following inoculation with a B. bassiana GHA suspension of 107.5 conidia/ml using a real-time quantitative PCR. The mycelial growth in the host hemocoel was not influenced by the low-humidity condition.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Hitoshi Kawamata and Shinichi Numata for valuable suggestions about this study. We thank Yoshito Suzuki, Masanori Koike, Satoshi Yamanaka, and Shohei Okuno for critically reading the manuscript. This work was supported by a research fellowship to S. Mukawa from the Ibaraki Agricultural Center.

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Author notes

  1. Takafumi Ikegami

    Present address: Ibaraki Plant Protection Office, Sakumachi, Mito, Ibaraki, 310-0802, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Biological Control, Plant Biotechnology Institute, Ibaraki Agricultural Center, Ago, Kasama, Ibaraki, 319-0292, Japan

    Shigeyuki Mukawa, Hirokazu Tooyama & Takafumi Ikegami

Authors
  1. Shigeyuki Mukawa
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  2. Hirokazu Tooyama
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  3. Takafumi Ikegami
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Correspondence to Shigeyuki Mukawa.

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Mukawa, S., Tooyama, H. & Ikegami, T. Influence of humidity on the infection of western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), by Beauveria bassiana . Appl Entomol Zool 46, 255–264 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13355-011-0033-2

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