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Dactylopius opuntiae: control by the Fusarium incarnatum–equiseti species complex and confirmation of mortality by DNA fingerprinting

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Abstract

Cultivation of the prickly pear cactus, Opuntia ficus-indica, an important cattle food in the semiarid region of Brazil, has been increasingly compromised by predation by the cochineal scale Dactylopius opuntiae. Entomopathogenic fungi represent a low environmental impact alternative to controlling this insect pest, and the genus Fusarium has been described as a promising agent for that task. As such, we selected isolates of the Fusarium incarnatum–equiseti species complex (FIESC) to evaluate their potential biological control of D. opuntiae and confirmed their efficiency/presence in the field through morphological and molecular characteristics. The pathogenicities of 25 isolates of FIESC obtained from D. opuntiae were evaluated. The isolates URM6782, URM6778, and URM6811 demonstrated kill rates above 45%, and good sporulation characteristics, and were thus selected for field testing. The isolate URM6782 showed the highest kill rate in the field, and amplification profiles obtained using the ISSR UBC834 marker confirmed that the isolates released in the field were in fact the causal agents of the high mortality of D. opuntiae. We also observed natural biological control by native Fusarium species present in the field. Our results suggest that the isolates URM6782 and URM6778 show significant promise for controlling D. opuntiae and that the ISSR primer UBC834 can be used to monitor those isolates when released into the field. This work represents an initial study directed toward the biological control of D. opuntiae using novel isolates from the FIESC.

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Acknowledgements

Research supported by the Programa Nacional de Pós-Doutorado-Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (PNPD-CAPES; Pos-Doctorate grant given to the first author).

Funding

This study was funded by Fundação Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – CAPES (Grant No. 2913-2011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mycology, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Av. Professor Moraes Rego, 1235, Cidade Universitária, Recife, PE, 50670-901, Brazil

    Mariele Porto Carneiro-Leão, Patricia Vieira Tiago & Neiva Tinti de Oliveira

  2. Agronomical Institute of Pernambuco, Av. General San Martin, 1371, Bongi, Recife, PE, 50761-000, Brazil

    Lílian Vieira Medeiros & Antonio Félix da Costa

Authors
  1. Mariele Porto Carneiro-Leão
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  2. Patricia Vieira Tiago
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  3. Lílian Vieira Medeiros
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  4. Antonio Félix da Costa
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  5. Neiva Tinti de Oliveira
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Correspondence to Mariele Porto Carneiro-Leão.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Communicated by S.T. Jaronski.

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Carneiro-Leão, M.P., Tiago, P.V., Medeiros, L.V. et al. Dactylopius opuntiae: control by the Fusarium incarnatum–equiseti species complex and confirmation of mortality by DNA fingerprinting. J Pest Sci 90, 925–933 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-017-0841-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-017-0841-4

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