Systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrates significant pest mortality in Tuta absoluta, highlighting entomopathogenic fungi as sustainable biological control agents.
) of 2.97 days. Given the high variability observed across studies, a mixed-effects meta-regression was conducted and revealed that host developmental stage explained 71.97% of between-study heterogeneity, with early larval instars showing significantly greater susceptibility. Beyond direct mortality, EPF exhibited endophytic capabilities within tomato plants, contributing to systemic protection and significant reductions in key life-table parameters, including fecundity, adult longevity, and intrinsic rate of increase. Field and greenhouse evaluations further demonstrated reductions in leaf mining and fruit damage, accompanied by improvements in marketable yield. These findings support entomopathogenic fungi as effective and sustainable biological control agents suitable for integration into integrated pest management (IPM) programmes for T. absoluta.
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Sandala et al. (2026) studied this question.
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