Joshi Chinmay ¹, Zala Viren ¹, Pandya Amit ¹, Zala Harpal ¹, Zala Vibhakshi ¹, Zala Prakash ¹ and Trivedi Nidhi S²*

¹Ami Agri Bioscience Pvt ltd, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
²BioAgro Innovators LLP, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India

*Corresponding Author: Trivedi Nidhi S, BioAgro Innovators LLP, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India.

Received: October 21, 2024; Published: December 21, 2024

Abstract

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), an important commercial crop in India, suffers significant pest challenges, notably from Thrips tabaci, which can cause substantial output losses. This study examined the efficiency of the commercial entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana (Ami Beauvero Star) in inhibiting T. tabaci infestations on cotton plants in both field and laboratory conditions. Field studies demonstrated that treating cotton plants with Beauveria bassiana effectively increased plant growth. In comparison to the controls, the treated plants exhibited a root dry mass of 38 g, a shoot dry mass of 137g, a stalk dry weight of 43.11g, and a total dry mass of 168g. These results were substantiated by laboratory analysis, which showed that treated plants had more root dry mass (24.09g), shoot dry mass (126g), and stalk dry weight (29.07g). The mean total dry mass of the treated plants was 89 ± 14g, which was significantly higher than the 51 ± 5g recorded for the control plants. This study evaluated the effectiveness of Beauveria bassiana, a commercial entomopathogenic fungus, in reducing thrips damage on cotton plants over eighteen weeks. In comparison with untreated plants, the application of Ami Beauvero Star substantially reduced thrips-related damage. While control plants averaged 4 injuries in Week 2, treatment plants showed no injuries at all. In comparison to the control group, which had 9 injuries by Week 4, the treated plants had only 3. Throughout the trial, this pattern was maintained, with control plants showing a sustained increase in damage that by Week 10 averaged 17 injuries. Treating plants, on the other hand, showed continuously decreasing injury levels; by Week 18, only 2 injuries were recorded as opposed to 7 injuries in the control group.

Keywords: Ami Beauvero Star; Biopesticide; Cotton; Entomopathogenic; Thrips tabaci

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Citation

Citation: Trivedi Nidhi S., et al. “Effectiveness of Beauveria bassiana (Ami Beauvero Star) as a Biological Control Agent for Thrips tabaci on Cotton Plants". Acta Scientific Microbiology 8.1 (2025): 66-73.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2025 Trivedi Nidhi S., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.