Endophytic fungi, Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae, confer control of the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), in two tomato varieties

Egyptian Journal of Biological Pest Control

Table 2 Weight gain of Spodoptera frugiperda larvae feeding on root-inoculated tomato varieties (Harzfeuer and Matina) either with Beauveria bassiana (BbC1) or with Metarhizium anisopliae (M150) for 21 days

Treatment		Mean weight gain of S. frugiperda larvae (mg) ± se*
Tomato variety	Fungal treatment	Days
Tomato variety	Fungal treatment	7	14	21
Matina	None (control)	23.40 ± 2.93a	110.77 ± 8.69ab	202.78 ± 19.64bc
	BbC1	20.99 ± 1.70b	81.29 ± 11.58bc	147.18 ± 28.74cd
	M150	21.35 ± 1.47a	70.16 ± 9.56c	95.56 ± 13.56d
Harzfeuer	None (control)	22.17 ± 1.92ab	127.91 ± 8.47a	332.38 ± 30.14a
	BbC1	16.98 ± 1.81bc	104.40 ± 17.03ab	300.78 ± 29.18a
	M150	11.34 ± 1.60c	72.62 ± 11.48c	235.96 ± 36.08b

Means with the same letter within the same column are not significantly different (P ≤ 0.05)
*Values are means (± se) of three replicates of assays each containing 12 larvae ± se
Calculated from a mean original weight (3.25 ± 0.15 mg) of 12 larvae