ISSN 2736-173X
African Journal of Malaria and Tropical Diseases ISSN 4123-0981 Vol. 5 (7), pp. 349-353, July, 2017. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Evaluation of Metarhizium anisopliae as a biocontrol agent for the adult mosquito Anopheles stephensi
S. Kamala Kannan*, K. Murugan, A. Naresh Kumar, N. Ramasubramanian and P. Mathiyazhagan
Division of Entomology, Department of Zoology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore – 641 046. Tamil Nadu, India.
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. Fax: +91 422 2422 387, Tel.: 91 99561 48910.
Accepted 22 March, 2016
Abstract
The entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae is being considered as a biocontrol agent for the adult mosquito of Anopheles stephensi (Malarial vector). In the present experiment was carried out in the laboratory of 30-50 male and female adult mosquitoes were exposed to M. anisopliae (exposed to 1 x 106 conidia/ml of oil or water suspension). In our results, there was 96% and 94% adult mortality was observed in oil and water formulated conidia of M. anisopliae. Similarly, adult emergency rate was also decreased with increasing concentration (1x108 conidia/ml). Finally, we conclude that the fungal spores or cells developed within insect cuticle which is suppress the cellular defence system and also fungal grow on the legs and wings to arrest the mosquito movement.
Key words: Entomopathogenic fungi, Metarhizium anisopliae, Anopheles stephensi.