Survival of Beauveria bassiana a potential biocontrol agent for insect pests in kiwifruit orchard soils

Hylastes ater was first recorded in New Zealand in 1929 and is now established in all exotic pine plantations. During maturation feeding adults damage and may kill young pine seedlings, which can significantly impact regenerative plantings. The insectpathogenic fungus Beauveria caledonica is frequently isolated from individual beetles and frass collected from breeding populations of H. ater in Pinus radiata stumps and is being evaluated as a biological control agent for this and other bark beetles. As part of this investigation, novel formulations are being developed for delivery of fungal inoculum to the target insect. Survival of inoculum in a formulation is obviously critical for it to be functionally effective, and studies have been done to assess the suitability of different materials for this purpose. Data are presented on survival of B. caledonica conidia in gel, biopolymer-coated rice, and biopolymer-clay formulations.