Bioinnovación para el control del picudo del banano mediante un prototipo entomopatógeno a base de Beauveria bassiana

Abstract

CONDITION FOR PROJECT PUBLICATION. This research focuses on the biological control of Cosmopolites sordidus, a critical pest affecting banana productivity. The objective is to evaluate the efficacy of solid and liquid formulations based on the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana through the addition of mineral oil, under the hypothesis that these additives enhance fungal virulence. For the project development, conidia from strains BB01 and BB02 were used. A factorial experimental design was employed, where insects were inoculated and maintained under in vitro conditions. Mortality data were transformed using the arcsine function and analyzed with linear models and Tukey tests to determine significant differences. The results demonstrated that the formulation and the use of oil were determining factors in infectivity. Treatments in solid formulation with mineral oil achieved the highest mortality levels, with strain BB02 standing out with a value of 1.571 on the transformed scale, surpassing the virulence of pure conidia. It is concluded that solid formulation is the most robust option for pest management and that mineral oil is an essential adjuvant to maximize infective efficacy. Keywords: Entomopathogen, Biological control, Virulence, Adjuvants, Formulations