Pathogenicity of three Japanese strains of entomopathogenic fungi against the silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia argentifolii

The pathogenicity of Japanese strains of the entomopathogenic fungi, Paecilomyces fumosoroseus, Beauveria bassiana and Aschersonia aleyrodis, against the nymphs of the silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia argentifolii, was compared with that of strains from foreign commercial products, including P. fumosoroseus, B. bassiana and Verticillium lecanii. With a single dose of 6×108 conidia/ml, the highest mortality was observed for the Japanese strain P. fumosoroseus PF3110, although it did not cause significantly different mortality than the strains from foreign commercial products. The LC50 values of the native strain were determined on various days after inoculation and the LT50 values were determined at different doses. The native strain, P. fumosoroseus PF3110, has potential as a microbial control agent against this whitefly.