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Association between chemical properties of vineyard soils and occurrence of entomopathogenic fungi causing different levels of mortality in Planococcus ficus

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Abstract

Global demand for environmentally friendly grapevine cultivation and pest control has necessitated an improved understanding of the relationship between soil properties and beneficial, naturally occurring antagonists such as entomopathogenic fungi (EPF). Sixty six soil samples were collected from 22 vineyards in the Western Cape, South Africa. The association between soil nutrient status and EPF prevalence was examined. Fungi were isolated with methods of insect baiting and selective media. In addition, fungal isolates were tested against a key grapevine pest, Planococcus ficus (Signoret) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae). Pathogenicity of fungal strains against P. ficus was assessed with an immersion bioassay at a concentration of 1 × 108 conidia ml–1. Twenty-three fungal strains were isolated and correspondence analysis of data indicated a positive association between EPF (Metarhizium robertsii (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae) and Clonostachys rosea f. catenulata [Hypocreales: Bionectriaceae]) occurrence and optimum to high levels of soil-based macronutrients (C, N and Ca). Logistic regression revealed that K was positively correlated with M. robertsii (estimate = 0.03 ± 0.01; P < 0.05; odds ratio = 1.03). Strains of Beauvaria bassiana (Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae) caused the highest mortalities (77.0 ± 2.0% to 87.0 ± 3.0%). This study showed that some soil nutrient properties corresponded to greater occurrence of EPF in grapevine soils.

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Acknowledgements

The authors of this paper would like to convey their thanks and appreciation to the National Research Foundation, South Africa and Cape Peninsula University of Technology (University Research Fund; Grant No. R166) for funding this study. Prof, Karin Jacobs at the University of Stellenbosch contributed to fungal identification. We thank Dr. Marilize Le Roes-Hill (Biocatalysis and Technical Biology Research Group, CPUT) for comments that greatly improved the manuscript. The authors thank Entomon Technologies (Pty.) Ltd. in Stellenbosch for supplying the different life stages of codling moths.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Horticultural Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Symphony Way, Bellville, P.O. Box 1906, Bellville, 7535, South Africa

    Siphokazi Moloinyane & Felix Nchu

  2. Department of Ecology and Entomology, Faculty of AgriSciences, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa

    Pia Addison

  3. ARC-Infruitec/Nietvoorbij, Private Bag X5026, Stellenbosch, 7599, South Africa

    Kwaku A. Achiano

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  1. Siphokazi Moloinyane
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  3. Kwaku A. Achiano
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Correspondence to Felix Nchu.

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10526_2019_9989_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Supplementary file1 (PDF 3823 kb) Supplementary Fig. S1 Neighbour-joining trees based on ITS and BTub sequences showing relationships to taxonomically similar reference strains in the following genera: Metarhizium and Beauveria (1), Clonostachys (2), Fusarium (3) and Talaromyces and Aspergillus (4). The corresponding bootstrap values are indicated at each branch node

10526_2019_9989_MOESM2_ESM.doc

Supplementary file2 (DOC 44 kb) Supplementary Table 1 Sequence identification of extracted DNA from entomopathogenic fungal isolates collected from vineyards in the Cape Winelands, South Africa

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Moloinyane, S., Addison, P., Achiano, K.A. et al. Association between chemical properties of vineyard soils and occurrence of entomopathogenic fungi causing different levels of mortality in Planococcus ficus. BioControl 65, 197–209 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-019-09989-3

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