Larvicidal effects of metarhizium anisopliae Blastospore against aedes albopictus

Aedes albopictus is an important vector especially for the transmission of many viral pathogens, including dengue fever, Chikungunya fever and yellow fever (Motoki et al., 2019). Besides that, Ae. albopictus also can act as a vector that can highly transmit dangerous diseases such as heartworm that are common in dogs. In order to reduce the risk of infections, many integrated approaches have been done including chemical control methods by using insecticides. But due to over exposure towards the insecticides, resistance started to develop in the mosquitoes. Therefore, the aim of this research to determine the larvicidal effects of Metarhizium anisopliae blastospore against Ae. albopictus that later might become a successful alternative control. This research was conducted by expose Ae. albopictus larvae to different concentration of M. anisopliae blastospore suspensions (101, 103 and 105 blastospore/ml). The dead larvae were then observed for 7 days and the data were analysed using ANOVA and Probit analysis. The median lethal concentration 50 (LC50) and lethal concentration 90 (LC90) for the blastospore suspension was 5.6x104 blastospore/ml and 7.5x106 respectively. The results show that there is no significant difference in larval mortality between the concentrations used. Hence, this study might prove that M. anisopliae have an effective effect against Ae. albopictus.
Keywords: Aedes albopictus, Metarhizium anisopliae blastospore, biological control
larvicidal effects