27/20 | General Article | Veterinary Parasitology
Entomopathogenic Fungi Prevalent in Soil and Rhipicephalus (B) microplus Ticks in Tamil Nadu
K.T. Kavitha, D. Saranya and Bhaskaran Ravi LathaDepartment of Veterinary Parasitology, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai 600 007
Published in the Indian Veterinary Journal July 2020: 97 (7) - pages 15 to 18(Received: February, 2020, Accepted: April, 2020)
Abstract
A study to determine the best methods to isolate entomopathogenic fungal species from fieldcollected samples of soil and ticks at different regions of Tamil Nadu was conducted. The isolation was carried out by soil plating method with selective media and insect bait method with Rhipicephalus (B) microplus ticks. A total of 12 isolates of entomopathogenic fungi were isolated from tick as well as soil samples. The most predominant species was Beauveria bassiana (7 isolates) followed by Metarhizium anisopliae (4 isolates) and Isaria fumosorosea (1 isolate). The bait method with ticks isolated 14.5 per cent while the soil plating method it was 8.8 per cent. The other colonies of fungi included Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, Mucor, Rhizopus and Fusarium sp. The higher incidence of entomopathogenic fungi was observed using the bait method with high frequencies of B. bassiana and M. anisopliae. The bait method with R. (B) microplus ticks was a sensitive method for the isolation of entomopathogenic fungi in soil.
Key Words: Entomopathogenic fungi, Soil plating, Rhipicephalus (B) microplus, Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium