Use of Entomopathogenic Fungi as Biopesticides to Manage Insect Pest: A Review

Entomopathogenic Fungi (EPF) biopesticides are more environmentally friendly and are an alternative to toxic synthetic chemicals. Due to EPF's pathogenic nature to various arthropod pests, it is thus considered a primary candidate for an integrated biological approach due to its numerous invaluable effects. However, an urgent need is to develop an environmentally safer, more sustainable, and practical approach to managing insect pests. Incorporating fungal biopesticide in an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach offers an opportunity to reduce the unselective and continuous use of synthetic chemicals to manage insect pests. There are limited reviews on biopesticides in developing countries concerning research questions. The review aimed to provide an understanding of the use of entomopathogenic fungal biopesticides to manage insect pests, majorly aphids in horticultural crops such as French beans.” The study uses an inclusive search approach, identifying 1046 articles and reports from 2010-2022 from relevant sources like Web of Science, dimension, Google Scholar, and Google. Out of these, 85 original papers and grey literature were selected and were related to fungal biopesticide use in Kenya and aimed at improving comprehensive knowledge on the benefits and use of EPF biopesticide against insect pests, their action, and how they kill the target pest. The current review presents information on the use of EPF, Metarhizium anisopliae, and Beauveria bassiana as biopesticides that are dominantly used in Kenya and attributed to their pathogenicity, registry, accessibility, and secondary metabolites produced, thus, increased demand with more than 132,980 hectares in 2019 in Kenya under biopesticides. However, their use in biocontrol processes is still underestimated due to a lack of knowledge. Thus, this study review recommends integrating EPF with other measures for enhanced fungal biopesticide formulation, pathogenicity, and increased shelf-life.