Joshi Chinmay¹, Zala Viren¹, Pandya Amit¹, Zala Harpal¹, Zala Vibhakshi¹, Zala Prakash¹ 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 13, 2024

Abstract

In India, groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) production faces significant losses due to white grub infestations annually. This research emphasizes the potential of commercial biopesticide Metarhizium anisopliae (Ami Meta Star) as sustainable alternatives to chemical pesticides. The study was conducted using a block-randomized design with Metarhizium anisopliae treatments and an untreated control group. The primary aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the biopesticide in decreasing white grub mortality rates and its impact on plant health at 15, 30, 45, and 60 days after treatment. The mean percent mortality for the treated group was 7.81% ± 1.20% at 15 days post-treatment, while the control group had a mean percent mortality of 5.12% ± 2.04%, this indicates that the white grubs treated with Ami Meta Star (M. anisopliae) had a higher average death rate than the untreated control group. The treatment group had a mortality rate of 5.23% at 30 days after treatment (DAT), while the untreated control group had a mortality rate of 6.91%. This indicates a substantial 24.3% decrease in white grub mortality, which can be due to the utilization of biopesticide. By 45 DAT, the treatment group showed 3.13% ± 1.36% mortality, significantly lower than the 7.54% ± 1.53% in controls, representing a 58.5% reduction. By 60 DAT, M. anisopliae achieved a remarkable 99.3% reduction in mortality, with the treatment group at 0.06% ± 0.02% compared to 8.97% ± 1.56% in controls. Furthermore, compared to the control group (1154 kg/ha), the treated group had a greater pod yield (1776 kg/ha), suggesting that Ami Meta Star is able to increase groundnut crop production.

Keywords: Ami Meta Star; Arachis hypogaea L.; Biopesticide; Mortality

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Citation

Citation: Trivedi Nidhi S., et al. “Field Evaluation of Commercial Metarhizium anisopliae (Ami Meta Star) for Controlling White Grubs in Groundnut Crop". Acta Scientific Microbiology 8.1 (2025): 83-88.

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.