MUSCARDINE FUNGI FOR THE BIOLOGICAL-CONTROL OF AGROFORESTRY TERMITE ODONTOTERMES-OBESUS (RAMBUR)

Among the eight entomopathogenic fungi tested against the termite, Odo ntotermes obesus (Rambur), five fungal pathogens viz., Beauveria bassi ana (Bals.) Vuill, Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.) Sorokin ver. aniso pliae, M. flavoviride Gams Rozsypal var. minus, Paecilomyces lilacinus (Thom) Samson and P. fumosoroseus (Wize) Brown & Smith, were pathogen ic. Three other fungal pathogens viz. Verticillium lecanii Zimm, Paeci lomyces farinosus (Holm. ex Gray) and Nomuraea rileyi (Farlow) were no t pathogenic. B. bassiana was the most effective pathogen against term ites, followed by M. anisopliae, M. flavoviride, P. lilacinus and P. f umosoroseus. Workers minor, of the three morphogenetic forms of 0. obe sus, were the most susceptible, followed by workers major and soldier caste. Bioassay on isolates of two most virulent termite pathogens, B. bassiana and M. anisopliae revealed that B. bassiana isolate Bapatla was the most effective fungal pathogen with the lowest LC50 (9.98 x 10 (4) conidia/ml)