author(s)
Manjushree G and Mani Chellappan

abstract
Three species of entomopathogenic fungi viz., Metarhizium anisopliae, Beauveria bassiana and Lecanicillium lecanii was evaluated at three different concentrations (1×10⁷, 1×10⁸ and 1×10⁹ spores ml^-l) were effective on D. brevipes under laboratory conditions. Highest Spore concentration of all the entomopathegenic fungi had resulted in higher mortality of mealybug. L. lecanii @ 1×10⁹ spores ml^-l concentration had resulted in 66.67 percent mortality. Similarly, B. bassiana and M. anisopliae at 1×10⁹ spores ml^-l concentration recorded mortality of 60 and 40 percent, respectively. In pot culture studies, the best performing concentration of entomopathegenic fungi from the laboratory assay was evaluated along with a botanical insecticide and a standard check (quinalphos 25EC @ 0.05%). Ten days after the first treatment application, highest reduction was observed in quinalphos (96.73%) followed azadirachtin (87.75%). Among the three EPF tested, M. anisopliae caused the maximum reduction of (59.29%) of mealybug. Similarly, second spray of M. anisopliae and B. bassiana recorded maximum reduction of 72.72 and 70.98 percent, which were statistically on par with each other. After the third spray, L. lecanii resulted in highest reduction (90.04%) of mealybugs which was on par with the reduction obtained by quinalphos (95.20%) application.