Two Prominent Entomopathogenic Fungi Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin and Metarhizium anisopliae (Metchnikoff) Sorokin as Natural Enemies of Lepidopteran Larvae from Rayalaseema Region of Andhra Pradesh

Roving survey was conducted for searching the natural occurrence of Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae during kharif season of 2022 and rabi season of 2022-23 in Kurnool, Kadapa, Chittoor and Anantapuramu districts of Andhra pradesh. The crops surveyed were Groundnut, Maize, Cotton, greengram and blackgram during September to October of kharif season and January to February of rabi season. The pest population found in among groundnut crops were Spodoptera litura, Helicoverpa armigera and Aproarema modicella and maize, Spodoptera frugiperda which were found at vegetative stage. The fungal infected cadavers of lepidopteran lavae were observed on the soil below the canopy or adhering to the foliage of groundnut and maize crops. The larval cadavers were collected in separate aseptic vials and soil samples were also collected from the surveyed fields. During the survey, it was found that the mean number of infected cadavers with fungi varied from 2.6 to 3.2 per square meter in Kurnool district during Sep-Oct of 2022. In Anantapuramu district the mean number of cadavers were 1.4-2.2 during Jan-Feb of 2023. In Chittoor district the mean number of infected cadavers were varied from 2.4-3.6, whereas in Kadapa district it was 0.2 per square meter during Jan-Feb of 2023. The cadavers were cultured in the lab and based on morphological characters confirmed the isolates as Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anispoliae. The cadavers of B. bassiana were found to be high in Kurnool district followed by Chittoor district and least in Kadapa district where as the cadavers of M.anispoliae were found to be higher in Chittoor district followed by Anantapuramu district and Nil in Kadapa district.