Virulence of Native Isolates of Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff) against Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Western Uttar Pradesh, India

The Chickpea pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a destructive pest of chickpeas that has proven difficult to control using conventional methods. We isolate and evaluate the virulence of five isolates of M. anisopliae against larvae of H. armigera. All isolates of M. anisopliae, SVPUAT 1, SVPUAT 2, SVPUAT 3, SVPUAT 4 and SVPUAT 5 were most effective against second instar, H. armigera at 2 ×108 conidia/ml. Among the all isolates, SVPUAT 1 Accession no. ON183248 had the highest virulence 100 percent mortality; whereas, LT50 and LT90 were 3.16 and 5.16 days.