Production of two entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae on natural substrates using diphasic production method

Entomopathogenic fungi have an important position among all the biocontrol agents because of their route of pathogenicity and broad host rang. Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae are entomopathogenic fungi which are used against a number of insect pests. Large-scale availability of the pathogens is a primary requirement in the biocontrol programs. In this study, various agricultural and industrial by-products such as wheat bran, spaghetti wastes, straw and potato skin with three complementary additives; urea, sucrose and permeate were evaluated for conidial production of B. bassiana and M. anisopliae using diphasic liquid-solid culture technique. The maximum conidial production of B. bassiana was observed on wheat bran plus 8% permeate (3.2×1010 conidia/g medium) and for M. anisopliae, it was observed on spaghetti wastes plus 8% permeate (2.11×1010 conidia/g medium) after 14 days incubation. Our data from this experiment could be applied for the mass production of these two entomopathogenic fungi for biological control purposes.