Increased fecundity of Aphis fabae on Vicia faba plants following seed or leaf inoculation with the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana

PLoS One. 2019 Oct 7;14(10):e0223616. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223616. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Since the discovery that entomopathogenic fungi can live inside plants as endophytes, researchers have been trying to understand how this affects mainly plants and herbivores. We studied how inoculation of Vicia faba L. (Fabales: Fabaceae) plants with Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo-Crivelli) Vuillemin (Ascomycota: Hypocreales) (strain GHA) either via the seeds or leaves influenced the nymph production of two successive generations of Aphis fabae Scopoli (Hemiptera: Aphididae). While we did not find any difference in nymph production for the first generation of aphids, second-generation aphids on both seed- and spray inoculated plants produced significantly higher numbers of nymphs than aphids on uninoculated plants. This emphasizes the importance of two (or multi-) generational experimentation. Beauveria bassiana was recovered from 26.0, 68.8 and 6.3% of respectively seed-, spray inoculated and control plants, thus, demonstrating its ability to live as an endophyte in V. faba. The confirmation that plants inoculated with entomopathogenic fungi can have a positive effect on pest insects makes careful consideration of these multi-trophic interactions imperative.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Aphids / microbiology
  • Aphids / pathogenicity
  • Aphids / physiology*
  • Beauveria / pathogenicity*
  • Fertility*
  • Pest Control, Biological
  • Plant Leaves / microbiology
  • Plant Leaves / parasitology
  • Seeds / microbiology
  • Seeds / parasitology
  • Symbiosis
  • Vicia faba / microbiology
  • Vicia faba / parasitology*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Graduate School of Science and Technology at Aarhus University. The author(s) received no additional external funding for this study.