Mass Production and Economics of Entomopathogenic Fungus, Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae and Verticillium lecanii on agricultural and industrial waste

Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuellemin, Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff) Sorokin and Vertillium lecanii are entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) that occur naturally in the environment and have a potential as biological control agents against many insect pests. A laboratory study was conducted to mass produce entomopathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae and Verticillium lecanii on nine different agricultural and industrial waste substrates. The maximum yield (278.75 X 10spores/ml) of B. bassiana, 171.75 X 10 spores/ml of M. anisopliae and 185 X 10 spores/ml of V. lecanii was obtained in Farm Yard Manure (FYM) followed by SDB (246.25, 157.25 and 180.0 X 10 spores/ml, respectively. The lowest number of spores of B. bassiana, M. anisopliae and V. lecanii was obtained in sugarcane bugasse (65.25, 34.25 and 39.0 X 10 spores/ml), respectively. The economics of B. bassiana, M. anisopliae and V. lecanii production was evaluated based on the final yield. Among in vitro produced media, the production of spores, FYM was the best low cost substrate (Rs. 0.275, 0.440 and 0.410) for 1X 10 spore production followed by Pressmud + FYM (1:1) + 1.0g dextrose (Rs. 0.39) for B. bassiana, while SDB (Rs. 0.68) for M. anisopliae and Crushed jowar grain + 1.0g dextrose (Rs.0.52) for V. lecanii. The highest cost of spore production was recorded in sugarcane bagasse (Rs. 1.14, 2.18 and 1.92) followed by pressmud for B. bassiana, M. anisopliae V. lecanii.