Preliminary evaluation of Paecilomyces lilacinus HY-4 to control Tetranychus urticae

Abstract

The virulence against the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch, was evaluated with entomopathogenic fungus Paecilomyces lilacinus (Thom) Samson HY-4 which is isolated from coleopteran insect and registered to Korean and US patents. Virulence tests were conducted with conidial suspensions (1.5×106 conidia/ml) of P. lilacinus HY-4 against T. urticae adults and positive results were recorded in laboratory conditions. The spraying device was also developed for the efficient and exact evaluation of treatment. The developed spraying device was named as SD-tower sprayer and its efficacy of spraying conidia was evaluated. The accumulated mortality caused by P. lilacinus HY-4 using SD-tower spray was about 73% at 6 days after inoculation. This suggest that the isolate P. lilacinus HY-4 may be considered as promising for a new approach to prevent adult infestations by T. urticae.