2.04.4.1 BEAUVARIA

Beauvaria is a genus of fungi. It is known to be a pathogen to both insects and bacteria.

Eva Maria Molin (AIT) in her IIRB2022 presentation “Microbial factors underlying storability of sugar beet” mentions beauvaria. She found a correlation between the relative abundence of beauvaria and some bacteria – including gluconobacter, truepera, and leuconostoc – for soil sampled from sugar beet surface at harvest. The correlation was negative, and high abundence of beauvaria was found on the roots with good storability. The relative abundence of beauvaria was low for root with poor storability (and thus the relative abundence of bacteria higher).

Another study focused on sugar beet, from Egypt, found benefits from the application of beauvaria. This work did not focus on storage, but on the population of cotton leafworm during growth. Over two years, cotton leafworm populations were reduced by 96% and 65% when Beauveria bassiana was applied as a biopesticide. The beauvaria might also have attacked beneficial insects.