The virulence of two strains of the entomopathogenic fungus Verticillium lecanii to the aphids Myzus persicae, Aphis gossypii and Brevicoryne brassicae was bioassayed. The strain (V24 and V18) tested were capable of infecting all three aphids species, but their virulence determined by LC50 and LT50 varied. The strain (V24) originally isolated from M. persicae showed the highest virulence against the homologous aphid species, but the whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum) derived strain (V18) showed also the highest virulence against an aphid species. The variability of the bioassay results and the impossibility of defining clearly traits associated with the virulence of a fungus strain toward a specific insect species are discussed. Effect of additives (glycerin, soyflour and rape oil) was studied for strain improvement. Considerable improvement of the strains virulence was not observed with glycerin and soyflour. The results are discussed in conjunction with the non-convincing results published earlier.
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Alavo et al. (2002) studied this question.
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