Pathogenicity of entomogeneous fungi isolated from eldana saccharina

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2009-08-14
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Abstract
Maize is one of the most important cereal crops, grown in Africa by commercial and resource-poor small-scale farmers, serving as a staple food for millions of people in Africa. Maize production is however constrained by many biotic factors including lepidopteran stemborers, which feed inside plant stems, and the parasitic weed belonging to the genus Striga, which rob the maize plant of water and nutrients. Many of the currently existing methods of controlling stemborers are either too expensive or inefficient. The objective of this study was to isolate and identify entomogenous fungi on dead Eldana saccharina larvae collected from selected sites in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana and to test the pathogenicity of the isolated fungi as potential biological control agents. Percentage larval mortality was determined for all isolated fungi using equal spore concentrations. Median Lethal Time and Median Lethal concentrations were also determined for each of the isolated fungi. Fungal species isolated and identified were Aspergillus flavus, Verticillium albo-atrum, Trichothecium sp., Fusariunm oxysporum and Alternaria brassicicola. Of the five fungi isolated and identified, Aspergillus flavus caused the largest percentage mortality of 80 % while Alternaria brassicicola caused the least percentage mortality of 22.5 % at a concentration of 5x107c.f.u./ml. Aspergilllus flavus, and Verticillium albo-atrum., were pathogenic to E. saccharina. Trichothecium sp. was moderately pathogenic while Fusarium oxysporum and Alternaria brassicicola were not pathogenic to E. saccharina.
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Master of Science degree (Msc.) in Environmental Science.
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