Moran Lee, Hyeju Jeong, Jaeyoon Kim, Dayeon Kim, Seung Ho Ahn, SangYeob Lee, Ji Hee Han*
Agricultural Microbiology Division, National Institutes of Agricultural Science, Wanju 55365, Korea
Correspondence to bijouhee@korea.kr
Korean Journal of Mycology (Kor J Mycol) December, 2018, 46(4):479-490.
https://doi.org/10.4489/KJM.20180052
Accepted: November 27, 2018; Revised: November 27, 2018; Received: November 07, 2018
Published: December, 2018.
© 2018 THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF MYCOLOGY.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Red pepper is seriously damaged by thrips (Thrips palmi) and anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum acutatum throughout its development. Because of biotic constraints, producers often depend on chemicals that are expensive and have adverse effects on the environment, operator, and beneficial insects. In addition, resistance is developed because of the repeated use of chemicals. In recent decades, the use of microorganisms in crop protection has become a credible alternative because it is eco-friendly. In this study, we aimed to select isolates with insecticidal and fungicidal activities against the pathogens that cause anthracnose and thrips. We treated T. palmi adults and juveniles with 13 strains of entomopathogenic fungi (isolated from the soil by using the insect-bait method), and 6 strains showed excellent insecticidal activity (70–100%) 5 days after the treatment. The selected isolates were cultured with C. acutatum to screen for the strain with excellent anti-fungal activities, among which an isolate FT333 showed more than 95% control efficacy against C. acutatum in vitro. The isolate was identified as Isaria javanica through its morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis of the ITS and β-tubulin nucleotide sequences. The Isaria javanica FT333 isolate could be used effectively for dual bio-control of thrips and anthracnose during red pepper cultivation.
Anthracnose, Dual culture, Entomopathogenic fungi, Thrips