The biological control of Western Flower Thrips by endophytic fungi Beauveria bassiana
Conference Year
January 2020
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to introduce a new biological control technique for the control of Western Flower Thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (WFT) (Thysanoptera Thripidae), an important agricultural insect pest worldwide. Marigold plants, Tagetes patula L., are highly attractive to WFT in greenhouses and hence were used as experimental plants in the current study. Entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana, known to be efficacious against WFT, was introduced into marigolds as an endophyte capable of entomopathogenic behavior. The primary goals of this project were to determine whether effective colonization of B. bassiana into marigolds is possible and whether marigold tissue colonized by endophytic B. bassiana is toxic to WFT. The results of this project could serve as a foundation for development of a biological control system that contains marigolds distributed systematically in a greenhouse as trap plants with endophytic B. bassiana. Our results showed that soil inoculation of B. bassiana is an effective method to inoculate marigolds leaves. We found that higher inoculation rate in the leaves of the treated plants with B. bassiana led to statistically significant higher WFT mortality rates in toxicity trials. Several optimizations have to be made to the inoculation process, including several drenching periods and increased concentration of the fungal spores for the method to be practically used in greenhouses.
Primary Faculty Mentor Name
Bruce L. Parker
Secondary Mentor Name
Agrin Davari
Status
Undergraduate
Student College
College of Arts and Sciences
Second Student College
College of Arts and Sciences
Program/Major
Biology
Second Program/Major
Mathematics
Primary Research Category
Biological Sciences
The biological control of Western Flower Thrips by endophytic fungi Beauveria bassiana
The purpose of this study was to introduce a new biological control technique for the control of Western Flower Thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (WFT) (Thysanoptera Thripidae), an important agricultural insect pest worldwide. Marigold plants, Tagetes patula L., are highly attractive to WFT in greenhouses and hence were used as experimental plants in the current study. Entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana, known to be efficacious against WFT, was introduced into marigolds as an endophyte capable of entomopathogenic behavior. The primary goals of this project were to determine whether effective colonization of B. bassiana into marigolds is possible and whether marigold tissue colonized by endophytic B. bassiana is toxic to WFT. The results of this project could serve as a foundation for development of a biological control system that contains marigolds distributed systematically in a greenhouse as trap plants with endophytic B. bassiana. Our results showed that soil inoculation of B. bassiana is an effective method to inoculate marigolds leaves. We found that higher inoculation rate in the leaves of the treated plants with B. bassiana led to statistically significant higher WFT mortality rates in toxicity trials. Several optimizations have to be made to the inoculation process, including several drenching periods and increased concentration of the fungal spores for the method to be practically used in greenhouses.