Efficacy of Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana against Helicoverpa armigera in Chickpea, under Field Conditions in Nepal

A field study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of two most virulent native isolates of insect pathogenic fungi (Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana) and compared with four commercial biopesticides against Chickpea pod borer (Helicoverpa armigera Hubner) at Chitwan, Nepal. The number of H. armigera lavae observed in plots treated with M. anisopliae and B. bassiana were significantly lesser than the control plots during vegetative, flowering and pod setting stage of chickpea. Similarly, the chickpea yield was significantly higher in the plots treated with M. anisopliae and B. bassiana than control, however lesser than NPV and Bt treated plots. Based on this study, the native isolates have potential to be a biocontrol agent against the H. armigera in Nepal.