TAVARES, Laísa Macedo.; BEZERRA, Nathália Souza.; SILVA, Geisi Maria Henrique da.; SILVA, Caroline Targino Alves da.; FREIRE, Kristerson Reinaldo de Luna.; ALMEIDA, Andréa Farias de.; SOUSA, Adna Cristina Barbosa de.
Resumen:
Metarhizium anisopliae is used in the biological control of several pest
insects in agriculture. The production costs of its conidia, on a large scale, in the standard
substrate (rice) currently used, affects the production process. Finding alternatives as a
way of minimizing process costs has led to the need to ascertain the efficiency of
alternative substrates. Therefore, our objective was to analyze the potential of
agroindustrial residues for the production of M. anisopliae and to evaluate the viability of
the conidia produced in cutter ants of the genus Atta. The experiment for conidia
production was performed in erlernmeyer containing γ0 g of the substrates and 0.γ μL
of the conidial suspension (1 x 108 conidia/mL). After 10 days of incubation, an aliquot
of conidia of 1 x 108 conidia/mL was collected and placed in a Petri dish containing
moistened filter paper and the ants. An experiment was performed with three replicates,
plus the control group. The viability of the conidia of M. anisopliae produced in the different substrates was guaranteed by the mortality of the infected ants. The mean
mortality rate from the conidia produced on the three substrates was 99.9% (rice), 96.4
(malt) and 77.9 (sugarcane bagasse). Considering the results obtained, the alternative
substrates used (malt residues and sugarcane bagasse) for M. anisopliae growth have
potential for conidiogenesis and consequently can provide a 50 % reduction in M.
anisopliae production costs.
