LABORATORY COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COMMERCIAL FUNGI COMPOUNDS AND TWO ISOLATES OF ENTOMOPATHOGENIC FUNGI, ON PUPAE OF THE COTTON LEAFWORM Spodoptera littoralis (BOISD.) (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE)

The pupae of the cotton leafworm Spodoptera littoralis (Boise.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), a pest affecting many economic crops were treated with two commercial fungi compounds and two isolates of entomopathogenic fungi, by applying the pupal dipping technique. Results showed that all of the tested entomopathogenic fungi adversely affected the adult emergence, Suspensions (1x108 spores /ml) of conidia harvested from M. anisopliae isolate resulted in the highest mortality (62%) followed by B. bassiana isolate (60%) than M. anisopliae commercial (51%) and the lowest mortality (49%) with B. bassiana commercial, the treatment also led to reducing the egg-laying capacity and egg hatchability. Treatment with these entomopathogenic fungi also caused several malformations in pupae and adults resulting from the treatment of pupae. Conclusion of our results that the two tested entomopathogenic fungi isolate M. anisopliae and B. bassiana was efficient and can be recommended as bio-insecticides to control the cotton leafworm S. littoralis, within the integrated pest management (IPM) program.