Entomogenous fungi with pigmented conidia varying from black to white (Aspergillus niger van Tiegh, black; mutant A. niger cinnamomeus, tan; Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.) Sorok, dark green; Nomuraea rileyi (Farlow) Samson, blue–green; mutant N. rileyi, yellow; and Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) Vuill, white) were exposed to simulated sunlight (SUV) for 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, and 32 h. The black conidia of A. niger were significantly more stable (14.8 ± 2.7 h) to SUV than the lighter pigmented conidia of all the other isolates. The half-life of the other isolates ranged from 1.1 ± 0.2 h (yellow conidia of N. rileyi) to 2.0 ± 0.6 h (tan–colored conidia of A. niger cinnamomeus). Also, dry conidia of N. rileyi were more stable to SUV (half-life of 2.4 ± 0.4 h) than wetted conidia (half-life of 1.6 ± 0.2 h). Because black-pigmented conidia were more tolerant to SUV, it may be possible to incorporate, by selection or genetic engineering, this phenotypic character into potential mycopesticides.
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Ignoffo et al. (1992) studied this question.
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