Laboratory evaluation of two isolates of Meterhizium anisopliae and Beauvaria bassiana to control infesting by Trogoderma granarium (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) larvae

Trogoderma granarium Everts (Khapra beetle) is a serious pest of stored barley and wheat worldwide. The current research evaluates the efficacy of local isolates of Meterhizium anisopliae and Beauvaria bassiana compared to an imported isolates when khapra larvae sprayed with concentration of later isolates under laboratory condition, mortalities were recorded for more than two weeks after treatment. Results demonstrated that the larvae were more susceptible to the local isolates of the two fungi than the imported isolates. Cumulative mortalities were 86.67 and 50 when larvae sprayed with 10⁹ conidia/ml of local and imported isolates of M. anisopliae respectively, and 86.67 and 66.67 when larvae sprayed with 10⁹ conidia/ml of laocal and imported isolates of B. bassiana respectively after two weeks. The findings of the current study clearly showed that the local isolates caused higher mortalities than the imported one so they may be used as a good candidates for pragmas of integrated pest management of stored grain pests.