SELECTION OF BEAUVERIA BASSIANA (BALSAMO) VUILLEMIN ISOLATES FOR MANAGEMENT OF MYZUS PERSICAE (SULTZAR) (HOM.: APHIDAE) BASED ON VIRULENCE AND GROWTH RELATED CHARACTERISTICS

Isolates of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana originated from Jordan were evaluated for their efficacy against the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae under laboratory and greenhouse conditions. Efficacy evaluation involved testing all isolates at a concentration of 1×10⁷ conidia/mL followed by concentration dependent and greenhouse bioassays for the top virulent isolates. Growth characteristics related to virulence were evaluated for high, intermediate and low virulent isolates. Results showed that three isolates namely: BAU004, BAU018 and BAU019 were highly virulent to the aphid in the laboratory causing more than 75% infection. In the greenhouse, the three isolates caused infection from 41.3 to 46.5%. For the growth characteristics, isolate BAU019 produced more spores than the other highly virulent ones including the commercial isolate GHA. Highly virulent isolates also showed faster hyphal growth than low virulent isolates. These findings indicate that isolates BAU004, Bau018 and BAU019 might be developed as commercial microbial insecticides for safe and effective control of green peach aphid.