Screening potential microbes against whitefly (Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius)), the most important pest of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz)

Abstract

The study was conducted to isolate potential bacteria and fungi from soil, cow dung and to study their pathogenicity on the most important pest of cassava, cassava whitefly (Bemisia tabaci). Entomopathogenic microbes were isolated from rhizosphere soil and cowdung, and their pathogenicity was tested against Bemisia tabaci. Microbes showing promising results were subjected to DNA extraction and PCR study; subsequently sequenced for isolate identification. The Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) analysis of sequences identified the bacterial isolates as Bacillus cereus and B. pumilus, and fungus as Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae and Penicillium citrinum.