Vol 6, No 1, December 2015.

Incidence of entomopathogenic fungi of the oat bird-cherry aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi L. (Homoptera: Aphididae) infesting wheat plants in Assiut, Egypt


Abstract: Four genera of entomopathogenic fungi and two hyphomycetes were identified from the cadavers of the aphid infesting wheat plants in the two growing seasons of 2013-2014. Entomophthorales was represented by four species belonging to three families; Ancylistaceae represented by Conidiobolus, Entomophthoraceae by Entomophthora planchoniana and Pandora neoaphidis and Neozygitaceae by Neozygites fresenii. The hyphomycetes fungi were represented by two species Beauveria bassiana and Verticillium lecanii which belong to the family Moniliaceae, order Moniliales. Data show that the aphid began to infest wheat plants early during the middle of January when wheat plants were in the stem-elongation stage. Thereafter, numbers of aphids increased gradually to reach a peak, when the plants were at the flowering stage during the third week of February; during the next three weeks the number of the oat aphid declined sharply. Mortality rate with the fungal pathogens was observed from the end of January up to the end of March. The number of cadavers increased gradually to reach the maximum level during the end of March. Key words: Oat bird-cherry aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi L, wheat, entomopathogens, Assiut.