EFFECTS OF FUNGICIDES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENTOMOPATHOGENIC FUNGUS Metarhizium anisopliae VAR. anisopliae

Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff) Sorokin is an entomopathogenic fungus used for controlling different insect pests. It is most frequently applied to berry fruit crops, where fungicides are also used for disease control. Fungicides: azoxystrobin, benomyl, captan, chlorothalonil, fenhexamid, fludioxonil, iprodione, and metalaxyl in concentrations of 0.01, 0.1, 1.0, 10, and 100 mg L-1 were evaluated in this research study. Vegetative growth, conidia germination, and conidia germination tube length were measured on the Qu-M82, Qu-M151b, Qu-M253, Qu-M430, and Qu-M984 Metarhizium anisopliae var. anisopliae fungus strains. Those strains were selected because of their present use against different insect pest in bramble fruits. Vegetative growth was measured through the colony rate growth in agar media, and those reaching up to 50% of the check growth were considered compatible. Results indicate that the benomyl and fenhexamid fungicides were compatible with the five isolates whereas, azoxystrobin and fludioxonil were incompatible. Furthermore, benomyl and fludioxonil reduced conidia germination by 53 and 91%, and germination tube length by 18 and 37%, respectively.