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• Cheraghi, A
• Habibpour, B
• Mossadegh, M
• Sharififard, M
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• Habibpour, B
• Mossadegh, M
• Sharififard, M
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• Habibpour, B
• Mossadegh, M
• Sharififard, M

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Insects 2012, 3(3), 709-718; doi:10.3390/insects3030709

Article

Horizontal Transmission of the Entomopathogen Fungus Metarhizium anisopliae in Microcerotermes diversus Groups

Amir Cheraghi ^1,* , Behzad Habibpour ¹ , Mohammad Saied Mossadegh ¹  and Mona Sharififard ²

¹ Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz 61357-831351, Iran ² Department of Medical Entomology, College of Health, Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, 61357-15751, Iran

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 7 May 2012; in revised form: 5 June 2012 / Accepted: 26 July 2012 / Published: 8 August 2012

Download PDF Full-Text [196 KB, uploaded 8 August 2012 10:06 CEST]

Abstract: An experiment was carried out in order to investigate fungal conidia transmission of Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff) Sorokin from vector (donor) to healthy Microcerotermes diversus Silvestri (Iso.: Termitidae) and determine the best donor/concentration ratio for transmission. After preliminary trials, concentrations of 3.1 × 10⁴, 3.9 × 10⁵, 3.2 × 10⁶ and 3.5 × 10⁸ conidia mL⁻¹ were selected for testing. The experiment was performed at three donor : Recipient ratios of 10, 30 and 50%. The highest mortality of recipient workers was observed after 14 days at the concentration of 3.5 × 10⁸ conidia mL⁻¹ and donor ratio of 50%. The mortality of recipient workers was less than 20% at all concentrations at a donor ratio of 10%. Our observations indicate social behavior of M. diversus, such as grooming, can be effective in promoting epizootic outbreaks in a colony. While the current results suggest good potential for efficacy, the use of M. anisopliae as a component of integrated pest management of M. diversus still needs to be proven under field conditions.

Keywords: termites; vector; recipient; biological control

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