Biocontrol Science and Technology (2017) 27, 28-41

Lara R. Jaber and Jürg Enkerli (2017)
Fungal entomopathogens as endophytes: can they promote plant growth?
Biocontrol Science and Technology 27 (1), 28-41
Abstract: Two experimental replicates were conducted to test whether strains of Beauveria brongniartii (BIPESCO2 and 2843) and Metarhizium brunneum (BIPESCO5) can endophytically colonise Vicia faba plants and improve their growth by comparing them with an endophytic strain of B. bassiana (NATURALIS^®). The plants were inoculated through foliar spray and the effect of inoculation on plant height, leaf pair number, fresh root and shoot weights was measured at 7 and 14 days post inoculation (dpi). Endophytic colonisation of different plant parts with the tested fungal strains were confirmed 7 and 14 dpi through re-isolation of inoculated fungi onto selective media and subsequent Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) marker-based genetic identification. All tested strains were able to endophytically colonise leaves, stems, and even roots of inoculated plants 7 and 14 dpi, but per cent colonisation varied significantly among strains and plant parts within each sampling date. Foliar inoculation of plants with the tested strains increased plant height, leaf pair number, fresh shoot and root weights; however the increase was not always consistent across sampling dates in both experimental replicates. This study provides the first evidence for the endophytic colonisation of plants with two strains of B. brongniartii, an important biocontrol agent of Melolontha melolontha and other scarab beetles in several European countries, and thus extends previous reports on the ability of entomopathogenic fungi to act as endophytes. It also presents possible explanations for the lack of consistency in the plant growth promotion obtained by the foliar inoculation of entomopathogenic fungi.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Jürg Enkerli, Lara R. Jaber

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Melolontha melolontha
Beauveria brongniartii (entomopathogen)	Melolontha melolontha
Beauveria bassiana (entomopathogen)
Metarhizium anisopliae (entomopathogen)