Susceptibly of Alphitobius diaperinus to Beauveria bassiana extracts

Abstract

Alphitobius diaperinus is an important pathogen with worldwide distribution that causes severe economic loss of efficiency in broilers. This study evaluates the potential of organic extracts of two strains entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana (CG71 and UNI40) as a biocontrol agent on A. diaperinus and promotes the phytochemical investigation. The effective percentages of mortalities were 95.97% (UNI40 methanolic extract), 69.23, 64.64, and 50.39% (CG 71 methanolic, ethyl acetate and butanol extracts). However, there was a decrease in the lesser mealworms susceptibility in relation to the use of insecticides and extracts. The metabolites 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furanoic acid, dipicolinic acid and monomethyl dipicolinate were isolated from ethyl acetate extract, and β-adenosine of butanolic extract of B. bassiana CG 71. In addition, the cyclodepsipeptides were identified in methanolic extracts of the two strains. The insecticide activity results indicated that the B. bassiana extracts are an alternative to A. diaperinus control.

Keywords:

• Lesser mealworm
• phytochemical profile
• entomopathogenic fungal
• biological control

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was carried out with the support of the International Foundation of Science (IFS, grant 2010/F/4898-1), Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), DIRPPG (Diretoria de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação of Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, Londrina Campus) and the Fundação Araucária (scholarships).