Bio-Control of Tobacco Whitefly Bemisia Tabaci Using The Entomopathogenic Fungus Metarhizium Anisopliae

This research aimed at evaluation of efficacy of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae against the immature stages (larvae and pupae) of the sweet potato whitefly Bemisia tabaci. The fungus was mainly applied in form of invert emulsion (water - in - oil formulation) after being introduced into the emulsion in form of conidia. Two types of experiments were carried out to evaluate the efficacy, the first type was under laboratory conditions (20±1°C) and a humidity of using formulated and non - formulated forms of the fungus, in addition to the control treatment; the second type was carried out on pots of eggplant seedlings kept under outdoor conditions during fall season using the above forms of the fungus, in addition to the control treatments. Results obtained from the two types of experiments indicated that affected larvae and pupae of B. tabaci due to the attack of the fungus turned into black - greenish in color (natural color of larvae is whitish, but it is yellow to dull - yellow for pupae) whereas, the values of mortality percent in the immature stages of B. tabaci under laboratory conditions were 100 %, 83.75 % and 0 % for the formulated form of Manisopliae, non - formulated form and the control, respectively. Comparatively, the mortality percent in B. tabaci immature stages under tl1e outdoor conditions were 92.269 %, 27.994 % and 1.000 % for the treatments mentioned above, respectively. Significant differences (P > 0.05) were obtained between the mean mortalities for the treatments with the formulated form of the fungus, the non — formulated form and the control. Moreover, it is recommended to confirm the efficacy of the fungus against B. tabaci especially in the formulated form under the open field conditions before the commercial use of the fungus against the whitefly.