This review summarizes the progress and achievements made in the last decade in mass production formulation and application technology of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana. Reports published on relevant research from Belgium, Canada, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia (former), France, Germany, Great Britain, Philippines, Poland, Switzerland, USA and USSR (former) regarding this topic have been covered. Much of the non‐English language literature, particularly that from Eastern European and Chinese sources, has not been translated and is inaccessible to most English or other western language readers. We have done this translation and through this review provide technological details about mass production of B. bassiana in China. Various aspects of B. bassiana growth, substrate use, production of mycelia, conidiospore and blastospores, process technologies associated with separation, drying and milling, formulation, storage and ‘shelf‐life’, and field efficacy are reviewed. Data are presented on: a m...

Production, formulation and application of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana for insect control: current status.

This review article starts with the discovery of Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner in Japan at the turn of the century and notes that the observations of the early Japanese workers clearly show that they were aware of the toxin-mediated nature of the activity of B. thuringiensis toward insect larvae. The early work in Europe with B. thuringiensis against Ostrinia nubilalis (Hubner) showed that the bacterium had promise as a microbial control agent. The commercial development of B. thuringiensis in France in the late 1930s, and in Eastern Europe and the United States in the 1950s, is traced.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0008347X00023427

Invitation paper (c.p. alexander fund): history of bacillus thuringiensis berliner research and development

Since the discovery of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti) in 1976, extensive literature has proved its efficacy to control mosquitoes and black flies, of which many species are known as important vectors of diseases or simply as pests of humans and animals. Since 1978, Bti has been used in many countries on all continents and numerous studies have been made on target mosquitoes and black flies, as well as nontarget organisms (NTO). This review analyses the results of 75 studies on these organisms covering approximately 125 families, 300 genera and 400 species. Different factors such as species, instar, feeding behaviour and environmental parameters (larval density, water temperature, suspended matter etc.) may drastically affect the efficacy of the Bti products. This is addressed in detail by reviewing the main factors affecting mosquitoes as well as black flies. The results of a wide range of laboratory and field experiments using different target and nontarget species, various preparations an...

Effects of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis on Target and Nontarget Organisms: A Review of Laboratory and Field Experiments

Three major groups of insect pathogens - bacteria, viruses and Protozoa - have one feature in common: they normally infect or poison the insects perorally when they contaminate insect food. Thus to control an insect infestation they must usually be eaten, and need to be spread evenly over the food environment and be hardy enough to stay alive whilst waiting for the insect to eat them. Formulation is vital to ensure the efficiency of these processes. The first task is to make the pathogen-treated food palatable and able to cover the food evenly. On ingestion, the pathogens invade the haemolymph and target tissues, grow within and kill the insects; then in nature survival stages of the pathogen are protected inside the cadavers, which eventually disintegrate. In con-trast, survival stages of pathogens produced for insect control have to be applied as sprays or solids spread thinly over the surface of the insects’ food, and so are more exposed to the environment. Thus, formulation must replace the natural protection afforded by insect cadavers. The chosen pathogens need to be highly virulent to kill by the smallest possible dosages, a requirement also facilitated by formulation. The modes of action and the main features of the three peroral groups of pathogens are summarized in Table 3.1

Formulation of Bacteria, Viruses and Protozoa to Control Insects

Importance of spores, crystals, and δ-endotoxins in the pathogenicity of different varieties of Bacillus thuringiensis in Galleria mellonella and Pieris brassicae

Laboratory tests to evaluate the potential efficacy of Bacillus thurin-giensis var. israelensis for use against mosquitoes.

Although Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner var. kurstaki was active against the mosquitoes Aedes aegypti L. and Culex quinquefaciatus Say, it was less active than. B. thuringiensis var. israelensis . The LC50’s (±95% confidence mterval) for B. thuringiensis var. israelensis and B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki against A. aegypti were 0.054 μg/ml (0.042–0.066) and 210.0 μg/ml (139.0–281.4), respectively. Against C. quinquefasciatus , the LC50’s for B. thuringiensis var. israelensis and B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki were 0.11 and >2.2 μg/ml, respectively. Unlike that of previous reports, B. thuringiensis var. israelensis was effecttve against Trichoplusia ni (Hubner), Heliothis zea (Boddie), H. virescens (F.) and comparable to previous commercial products formulated from B. thuringiensis var. thuringiensis and B. thuringiensis var. galleriae , (and it was only one-third to one-tenth less active than current commercial formulations of B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki). The LC50's for B. thuringiensis var. israelensis against T. ni, H. zea , and H. virescens were 109.6, 19.3, and 27.6 μg/ml, respeclively. Corresponding values for B. thuringiensis var kurstaki against T. ni, H. zea, and H. virescens were 15.9, 2.0, and 7.8 μg/ml, respectively.

Relative Activity of Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki and B. thuringiensis var. israelensis Against Larvae of Aedes aegypti, Culex quinquefasciatus, Trichoplusia ni, Heliothis zea, and Heliothis virescens

Effect of antibiotics on the insecticidal activity of Bacillus thuringiensis

Formulations of the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis , but not Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki , lost most of their insecticidal activities during 28 days of exposure at 50°C. The half-lives of one liquid-flowable and two wettable-powder formulations of B. thuringiensis var. israelensis were 18.0, 7.2, and 6.0 days, respectively. No loss in activity was detected for the wettable-powder formulation of B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki . On the basis of viable spore counts, half-lives were 6.0 days for the liquid-flowable formulation, and 18.5 and 10.5 days for the two wettable-powder formulations, of B. thuringiensis var. israelensis . Differences in thermal sensitivity were attributed to relative differences in the ultrastructure of endocrystals of B. thuringiensis var. israelensis and B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki .

High-Temperature Sensitivity of Formulations of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis

A procedure is described that can be effectively used to measure the activity of conidial preparations of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) Vuill. 1st instars of the cabbage looper are exposed to a leaf disc surface-treated with viable conidia. After 48 h, larvae are transferred to an untreated, semisynthetic diet (at 25 ± 1°C), and the bioassay is terminated 5 days later. The dosage-mortality regression equation for this bioassay was Y = 2.1420 + 1.3352X. The calculated LC20, LC50, and LC80 were 32, 139, and 590 total condia per mm2, respectively.

T. L. Couch

Papers

Laboratory tests to evaluate the potential efficacy of Bacillus thurin-giensis var. israelensis for use against mosquitoes.

Relative Activity of Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki and B. thuringiensis var. israelensis Against Larvae of Aedes aegypti, Culex quinquefasciatus, Trichoplusia ni, Heliothis zea, and Heliothis virescens

Effect of antibiotics on the insecticidal activity of Bacillus thuringiensis

High-Temperature Sensitivity of Formulations of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis

Use of Larvae of Trichoplusia ni to Bioassay Conidia of Beauveria bassiana