Biocontrol Potential of Selected Botanicals and Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) spore suspension Against Bemisia tabaci (Genn.)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24425/jppr.2026.158062Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate the effects of plant extracts of Capsicum annuum, Datura stramonium and Allium sativum and the fungus Beauveria bassiana on different developmental stages of Bemisia tabaci.
The D. stramonium extract achieved the most effective adult mortality rate of 92.4% at 4% w/v strength after 96 h of testing, which was higher than A. sativum (85.7%) and C. annuum (76.3%). Isolated extracts of D. stramonium demonstrated maximum lethal activity against the early stages of B. tabaci where the second instar exhibited the highest vulnerability with a mortality rate of up to 97.8%. The pathogenicity of B. bassiana reached its highest level against B. tabaci life stages specifically the second instar nymphs because they demonstrated 93.6% mortality when treated with 1 × 108 conidia/mL. When plant extracts were combined with B. bassiana as treatments they caused elevated mortality rates because all combinations demonstrated synergistic effects with co-toxicity factor (CTF) values > 20. Lethal potency emerged from the combination treatment of D. stramonium (1% w/v) and B. bassiana (1 × 106 conidia/mL) which reached a maximum adult mortality of 98.0% ± 2.1. The results of greenhouse trials showed that the combined treatment generated population reductions above 90% which included adult insects, nymphs, and eggs in a period of 14 days. The research confirms that both botanical extracts and B. bassiana are suitable components for developing sustainable Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs through their efficient and environmentally friendly insect pest control mechanisms.
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