Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Isolation and characterization of a Lecanicillium psalliotae isolate infecting cardamom thrips (Sciothrips cardamomi) in India

  • Published:
BioControl Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Cardamom thrips (Sciothrips cardamomi Ramk.) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) cause serious economic loss to cardamom, Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton (Zingiberaceae). A fungus was isolated from cadavers of cardamom thrips collected during a survey in cardamom plantations of Wayanad District, Kerala, India and identified as Lecanicillium psalliotae (Treschew) Zare & W. Gams (Ascomycota: Hypocreales) based on morphological and molecular studies. Bio-assay studies with purified conidial suspension further confirmed the infectivity of the fungus to thrips. At the highest dose tested (1 × 107 conidia ml−1), up to 62.9 % mortality was recorded in the test population, ten days post inoculation. The fungal pathogenesis on adult thrips was documented by scanning electron microscopic studies. This is the first record of L. psalliotae in India and also a first report of a fungus infecting cardamom thrips.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abbott WS (1925) A method of computing the effectiveness of an insecticide. J Econ Entomol 18:265–267

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Aquino de Muro M, Elliott S, Moore D, Parker BL, Skinner M, Reid W, Bouhssini M (2005) Molecular characterisation of Beauveria bassiana isolates obtained from overwintering sites of Sunn Pests (Eurygaster and Aelia species). Mycol Res 109:294–306

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Arevalo J, Hidalgo-Díaz L, Martins I, Souza JF, Castro JMC, Carneiro RMDG, Tigano MS (2009) Cultural and morphological characterization of Pochonia chlamydosporia and Lecanicillium psalliotae isolated from Meloidogyne mayaguensis eggs in Brazil. Trop Plant Pathol 34:158–163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asad EM, Zafari DM, Zare R (2008) First report of Lecanicillium psalliotae as an entomogenous fungus from Iran. Rostaniha 9:119

    Google Scholar 

  • Asensio L, Lopez-Llorca LV, Lo´pez-Jime´nez JA (2005) Use of light, scanning electron microscopy and bioassays to evaluate parasitism by entomopathogenic fungi of the red scale insect of palms (Phoenicococcus marlatti Ckll., 1899). Micron 36:169–175

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Askary H, Benhamou N, Brodeur J (1999) Ultrastructural and cytochemical characterization of aphid invasion by the hyphomycete Verticillium lecanii. J Invertebr Pathol 74:1–13

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bidochka MJ, Kamp AM, Lavender TM, Dekoning J, De Croos JNA (2001) Habitat association in two genetic groups of the insect pathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae: uncovering cryptic species? Appl Environ Microbiol 67:1335–1342

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boucias D, Pendland JC (1991) Attachment of mycopathogens to cuticle. In: Cole GT, Hoch HC (eds) The fungal spore and disease initiation in plants and animals. Plenum Press, New York, USA, pp 101–127

  • Dharmadasa M, Nagalingam T, Seneviratne PHM (2008) Identification and screening of new generation insecticides against cardamom thrips (Sciothrips cardamomi) in cardamom cultivations in Sri Lanka. Ceylon J Sci (Biol Sci) 37:137–142

    Google Scholar 

  • Glass NL, Donaldson GC (1995) Development of primer sets designed for use with the PCR to amplify conserved genes from filamentous ascomycetes. Appl Environ Microbiol 61:1323–1330

    PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gopakumar B, Chandrasekar SS (2002) Insect pests of cardamom. In: Ravindran PN, Madhusoodanan KJ (eds) Cardamom—the genus Elettaria. Taylor and Francis, London, UK, pp 180–206

  • Gouli S, Gouli V, Skinner M, Parker B, Marcelino J, Shternshis M (2008) Mortality of western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis, under influence of single and mixed fungal inoculations. J Agric Technol 4:37–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeffs LB, Xavier IJ, Matai RE, Khachatourians GG (1999) Relationships between fungal spore morphologies and surface properties for entomopathogenic members of the genera Beauveria, Metarhizium, Paecilomyces, Tolypocladium and Verticillium. Can J Microbiol 45:936–948

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kheirabadi PK, Haddadzadeh H, Razzaghi-Abyaneh M, Bokaie S, Zare R, Ghazavi M, Shams-Ghahfarokhi M (2007) Biological control of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus by different strains of Metarhizium anisopliae, Beauveria bassiana and Lecanicillium psalliotae fungi. Parasitol Res 100:1297–1302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kouvelis VN, Sialakouma A, Typas MA (2008) Mitochondrial gene sequences alone or combined with ITS region sequences provide firm molecular criteria for the classification of Lecanicillium species. Mycol Res 112:829–844

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krishnamurthy K, Khan MM, Avadhani KK, Venkatesh J, Siddaramaiah AL, Chakravarthy AK, Gurumurthy BR (1989) Three decades of cardamom research at Regional Research Station, Mudigere. University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India, 94 p

  • Kushwaha RKS (1980) A new species of Verticillium. Curr Sci 49:948–949

    Google Scholar 

  • Maniania NK, Sithanantham S, Ekesi S, Ampong-Nyarko K, Baumgartner J, Lohr B, Matoka CM (2003) A field trial of the entomogenous fungus Metarhizium anisopliae for control of onion thrips, Thrips tabaci. Crop Prot 22:553–559

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murugan M, Shetty PK, Ravi R, Subbiah A, Hiremath MB (2011) Environmental impacts of intensive cardamom (small) cultivation in Indian cardamom hills: the need for sustainable and efficient practices. Recent Res Sci Technol 3:9–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagaoka T, Nakata K, Kouno K, Ando T (2004) Antifungal activity of oosporein from an antagonistic fungus against Phytophthora infestans. Z Naturforsch C 59:302–304

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • North JP, Cuthbertson AGS, Walters KFA (2006) The efficacy of two entomopathogenic biocontrol agents against adult Thrips palmi (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). J Invertebr Pathol 92:89–92

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Posadas JB, Comerio RM, Mini JI, Nussenbaum AL, Lecuona RE (2012) A novel dodine-free selective medium based on the use of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) to isolate Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae sensu lato and Paecilomyces lilacinus from soil. Mycologia 104:974–980

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rehner SA, Buckley E (2005) A Beauveria phylogeny inferred from nuclear ITS and TEF-α sequences: evidence for cryptic diversification and link to Cordyceps teleomorphs. Mycologia 97:84–98

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saito T, Takatsuka J, Shimazu M (2012) Characterization of Paecilomyces cinnamomeus from the camellia whitefly, Aleurocanthus camelliae (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), infesting tea in Japan. J Invertebr Pathol 110:14–23

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • SAS (2011) SAS/STAT Software. Release 9.3. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA

  • Steenberg T, Humber RA (1999) Entomopathogenic potential of Verticillium and Acremonium species (Deuteromycotina: Hyphomycetes). J Invertebr Pathol 73:309–314

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sukarno N, Kurihara Y, Ilyas M, Mangunwardoyo W, Yuniarti E, Sjamsuridzal W, Park J-Y, Saraswati R, Inaba S, Widyastuti Y, Ando K, Harayama S (2009) Lecanicillium and Verticillium species from Indonesia and Japan including three new species. Mycoscience 50:369–379

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sung GH, Nigel LHJ, Sung JM, Luangsa-Ard JJ, Shrestha B, Spatafora JW (2007) Phylogenetic classification of Cordyceps and the clavicipitaceous fungi. Stud Mycol 57:5–59

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tamura K, Peterson D, Peterson N, Stecher G, Nei M, Kumar S (2011) MEGA5: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis using maximum likelihood, evolutionary distance, and maximum parsimony methods. Mol Biol Evol 28:2731–2739

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas MB, Read AF (2007) Can fungal biopesticides control malaria? Nat Rev Microbiol 5:377–383

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vestergaard S, Butt TM, Bresciani J, Gillespie AT, Eilenberg J (1999) Light and electron microscopy studies of the infection of the western flower thrips Frankliniella occidentalis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) by the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae. J Invertebr Pathol 73:25–33

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • White TJ, Bruns T, Lee S, Taylor J (1990) Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In: Innis MA, Gelfand DH, Sninsky JJ, White TJ (eds) PCR protocols: a guide to methods and applications. Academic Press, San Diego, USA, pp 315–322

  • Yang J, Huang X, Tian B, Wang M, Niu Q, Zhang K (2005) Isolation and characterization of a serine protease from the nematophagous fungus, Lecanicillium psalliotae, displaying nematicidal activity. Biotechnol Lett 27:1123–1128

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zare R, Gams W (2001) A revision of Verticillium section Prostrata. IV. The genera Lecanicillium and Simplicillium gen. nov. Nova Hedwig 73:1–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Zheng CJ, Xia JW, Sen L (2012) Identification of fungus Lecanicillium psalliotae and its colonization in different life stages of Meloidogyne incognita. Sci Agric Sin 45:2404–2411

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The work was carried out under a grant of ICAR under an Outreach Programme on Sucking Pests of Horticultural Crops. We thank Director, IISR for necessary facilities, Dr. Rasoul Zare, Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection for relevant literature and Dr. R. Ramakrishnan Nair for photomicrograph facility. Technical help extended by Distributed Information Sub-Centre, K.K. Sasidharan, K. Jayarajan (IISR) and K. B. Rebijith (IIHR, Bengaluru) are greatly acknowledged. Thanks are due to Dr. A. Dhandapani, National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad for statistical analysis. We thank the anonymous reviewers and editor for their valuable comments which helped to improve the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Crop Protection, Indian Institute of Spices Research, Marikunnu P.O., Kozhikode, 673 012, Kerala, India

    C. M. Senthil Kumar, T. K. Jacob & S. Devasahayam

  2. Cardamom Research Centre, Appangala, Madikeri, 571 201, Karnataka, India

    Sharon D’Silva

  3. Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, 110 012, India

    N. K. Krishna Kumar

Authors
  1. C. M. Senthil Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. T. K. Jacob
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. S. Devasahayam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Sharon D’Silva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. N. K. Krishna Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to C. M. Senthil Kumar.

Additional information

Handling Editor: Helen Roy.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Senthil Kumar, C.M., Jacob, T.K., Devasahayam, S. et al. Isolation and characterization of a Lecanicillium psalliotae isolate infecting cardamom thrips (Sciothrips cardamomi) in India. BioControl 60, 363–373 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-015-9649-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-015-9649-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation