Persistence of Metarhizium anisopliae incorporated into soilless potting media for control of the black vine weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus in container-grown ornamentals.
The objective of this study was to determine the persistence of Metarhizium anisopliae (F52), measured as infectivity against black vine weevil larvae, in a soilless potting medium at six wholesale nursery locations across the Willamette Valley, Oregon. A granule formulation (0.30 and 0.60 kg/m(3)) was incorporated into media at planting and fungal persistence determined over two growing seasons. The fungus persisted in the potting media over the duration of the experiment with 50-60% of the larvae exposed to treated media becoming infected at the end of the experiment. The percentage of infected larvae gradually declined from > or = 90% on week 3 to 40-60% by week 19. Larval infection rebounded over the fall and winter months of 2004 to 75-80% followed again by a slow decline over the course of the second growing season.
Bruck
Denny J
DJ
USDA-ARS Horticultural Crops Research Laboratory, Corvallis, OR 97330, USA. bruckd@onid.orst.edu
Donahue
Kelly M
KM
D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods; D000818:Animals; D007814:Larva / Q000382:microbiology; D052981:Metarhizium / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010572:Pest Control, Biological; D010944:Plants / Q000382:microbiology*; D048889:Weevils / Q000469:parasitology*