Metarhizium-Inoculated Coffee Seeds Promote Plant Growth and Biocontrol of Coffee Leaf Miner.

ABSTRACT: Metarhizium (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae) has a multifunctional life cycle, establishing as a plant endophyte and acting as entomopathogenic fungi. Metarhizium robertsii and Metarhizium brunneum can be associated with coffee plants and provide enhanced protection against a major pest of coffee, the coffee leaf miner (CLM) (Leucoptera coffeella). This association would be an easily deployable biological control option. Here we tested the potential of inoculating coffee seeds with M. robertsii and M. brunneum collected from the soil of coffee crops in the Cerrado (Brazil) for control of the CLM and the enhancement of plant growth with a commonly used fungicide. We conducted the experiment in a greenhouse and after the seedlings grew, we placed them

SUBMITTER: Martins JLA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11433645 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature