Abstract
Sugarcane is one of the important commercial crop in India and white grubs are one of the serious pests of this crop. The present study was taken up to study the efficacy of entomopathogenic fungi against Holotrichia serrata (Fabricius) in sugarcane. Laboratory bioassay studies were conducted using five strains of Metarhizium anisopliae (ICAR-NBAIR Ma-4, Ma-6, Ma-11, Ma-14a & Ma-35) and one strain of Beauveria bassiana (ICAR-NBAIR Bb-5a) on third instar grubs of H. serrata at the concentration of 1 × 108 spores/ml. M. anisopliae (ICAR-NBAIR Ma-4) strain showed 100% mortality of the grubs and the rest of the strains showed 56–80% mortality of H. serrata. Dose and time mortality studies with aqueous spore suspensions and talc formulation (2% WP) of M. anisopliae (ICAR-NBAIR Ma-4 strain) showed LC50 value of 6.67 × 104 spores/ml and 1.72 g/l andLT50 value of 122.02 h at spore dose of 1 × 108 spores/ml and 183.86 h at the dose of 5 g/l. Further field evaluation was conducted in white grub infested sugarcane during 2016–17 and 2017–18 using M. anisopliae (ICAR-NBAIR Ma-4 strain) and B. bassiana (ICAR-NBAIR Bb-5a) for management of white grubs, H. serrata in Karnataka state of India. The results showed soil applications of 250 kg of M. anisopliae, (ICAR-NBAIR Ma-4) enriched Farmyard manure per hectare two times (June & July) effectively reduced the grub population of H. serrata by 86–89% leading to reduced plant damage and increased yield (33–34%). This treatment was better than the insecticidal application in the management of sugarcane white grubs.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbott WS (1925) A method of computing the effectiveness of an insecticide. J Econ Entomol 18:265–267
Agarawal GP, Rajak RC (1985) A list of entomopathogenic fungi of insect pests of crops and forest nurseries in Jabalpur (MP) bio. Bull ind 7:67–69
Anonymous (2013). Key facts about India’s sugar sector, The Indian sugar mills association. (www.indiastat.com)
Anonymous (2015) Agricultural statistics at a glance
Anonymous (2018). Agricultural statistics at a glance
Avasthy PN (1967). Sugarcane pests in India and their control (a review). PANS 13:111–117. Bareth SS. 2001
Bhagat RM, Gupta RBL, Yadav CPS (2003) Field efficacy of two entomopathogenic fungal formulations against white grub in Himachal Pradesh. Indian J Entomol 65(1):76–81
Chandel RS, Soni S, Vashisth S, Pathania M, Mehta PK, Rana A, Bhatnagar A, Agrawal VK (2019) The potential of entomopathogens in biological control of white grubs. Int J Pest Manage 65:4,348–4,362. https://doi.org/10.1080/09670874.2018.1524183
Chelvi CT, Thilagaraj WR, Kandasamy R (2010) Laboratory culture and virulence of Beauveria brongniartii (Metschinikoff) isolates on sugarcane white grub, Holotrichia serrata F (Coleoptera : Scarabidae). J Biopesticides 3(1):177
David H, Nadagopal V, Narayana AK (1986) Recent studies on the control of white grubs, Holotrichia serrata blanch infesting sugarcane. J Soil Biol Eco 6:117–127
Easwaramoorthy S, Srikanth J, Santhalakshmi G, Geetha N (2005) Laboratory and field studies on Beauveria brongniartii (Sacc.) Petch against Holotrichia serrata F. (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in sugarcane. Co-Op Sugar 36(6):493–502
Finney DJ (1971) Probit Analysis, 3rd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Ghosh SK, Choudhary M, Pawar S, Prabhakar MS (2009). Bio-efficacy of GRUB – X 10% GR, a granular formulation of Metarhizium anisopliae against white grubs Holotrichia sp (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) on sugarcane. In: fifth international conference on bio pesticides: stakeholders’ perspective. Society for Promotion and Innovation of bio pesticides; New Delhi, India; p. 206
Gupta RBL, Sharma S, Yadav CPS (2003) Effect of moisture regimes on efficacy of M. anisopliae against white grub (Holotrichia consanguinea). Indian J Entomol 65(1):38–42
Kambrekar DN, Mallapur CP, Balikai RA, Giraddi RS (2015) Integrated pest management in all the crops (Kannada). Uni Agric Sci. Dharwad (India) 59:101–104
Klein MG, Grewal PS, Jackson TA, Koppenhӧfer AM (2000) Lawn, turf and grassland pests. In: Lacey LA, Kaya HK (eds) Field manual of techniques in invertebrate pathology. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 655–675
Kulye MS, Pokharkar D (2009) Evaluation of two species of Entomopathogenic Fungi against white grub, Holotrichia consanguinea (Blanchard) infesting potato in Maharashtra, India. J Biol Control 23(1):1–4
Manisegaran S, Lakshmi SM, Srimohanapriya V (2011) Field evaluation of Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff) Sorokin against Holotrichia serrata (blanch) in sugarcane. J Biopesticides 4(2):190–193
McCoy CW, Samson RA, Boucias DG (1988) Entomogenous protozoa and fungi, pp. 151–236. In: Ignoffo CM, Mandava NB (eds) Entomogenous fungi Handbook of natural pesticides: volume V. microbial insecticides. CRC press, Boca Raton, FL
Mohalkar PR, Patil AS, Shewale BS, Hapse DG (1977). White grub (Holotrichia serrata F.). the sixth joint convection of S.T.a.I., S.I.S.T.a. and D.S.T.a. pp.67-77
Mohi-ud-din S, Zaki FA, Munshi NA, Jan A, Sultan P (2006) Evaluation of some entomopathogenic fungal isolates from Kashmir for the biocontrol of white grub infesting turf in golf course. J Biol Control 20:45–49
Patil SM, Chauggle CB, Mohalkar PK, Ajri DS, Patil BR (1986). A new species of white grub, L. Lepidoptera Blanchard infesting sugarcane in Kolhapur district. In: abstract national seminar on pests and diseases management and national disorders in sugarcane, DSI, Pune, M.S. (INDIA)
Potter DA, Patterson CG, Redmond CT (1992) Influence of turf grass species and tall fescue endophyte on feeding ecology of Japanese beetle and southern masked chafer grubs. J Econ Entomol 85:900–909
Rao GN, Vijaylakshmi U (1959) A note on the occurrence of certain parasitic fungi on insect-pests of sugarcane. Curr Sci 28:295
Samules KDZ, Dinnock DE, Bull RM (1990) Scarabaeid larvae control in sugarcane using Metarhizium anisopliae [Metch.] Sorokin. J Invertebr Pathol 55:135–137
Sharma S, Gupta RBL, Yadav CPS, and Sharma S (1998) Effect or temperatures on growth, sporulation and bioactivity of entomofungi against white grub (Holotrichia consanguinea). Indian Journal ofEntomologv, 60(I):1–7.
Veeresh GK (1988) White grubs. In: Veeresh GK, Rajgopal D (eds) Applied soil biology and ecology, 2nd edn. New Delhi, IBH, pp 243–282
Yadava CPS, Sharma GK (1995) Indian white grubs and their management, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. Tech. Bull. No.2 all India coordinated research project on white grubs. Pp. 26
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the Director, ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India for the constant support provided throughout the research work.
Code availability
SPSS software was used in the paper for statistical analysis.
Funding
This work was supported by ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources (NBAIR), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
The concept and design of the experiments were prepared by BR and AH. BP and ES conducted the experiments in laboratory and analyzed. AH conducted the experiments in the field and analyzed. BR and BP prepared the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the manuscript.
BR- B. Ramanujam.
AH- Arunkumar Hosamani.
BP- B. Poornesha.
ES- E. Sowmya.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethics approval
All experimental works were approved by ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources, Bengaluru and UAS-Raichur, Karnataka, India.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ramanujam, B., Hosamani, A., Poornesha, B. et al. Biological control of white grubs, Holotrichia serrata (Fabricius) in sugarcane by two species of entomopathogenic fungi, Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana. Int J Trop Insect Sci 41, 671–680 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42690-020-00256-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42690-020-00256-y