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Discovering New Codling Moth Entomopathogenic Fungi

Printable Handout – Station 3 Discovering New Codling Moth Entomopathogenic Fungi

Problem

Effective codling moth management requires a diversity of active ingredients and modes of action. Organic management is limited to only a handful of options, and they need more to prevent resistance development.

Project Goal

Discover, characterize, and develop new codling moth entomopathogenic fungi.

Background

  • 14,000 Codling moth larvae were collected in cardboard bands in 2023
  • 8 were screened for entomopathogenic fungi
  • 3 were found infected
    • Beauveria bassiana
    • Metarhizium robertsii
    • Ophiocordyceps sp.
  • B. bassiana and M. robertsii show the most promise in initial assays
(A) View under a microscope of a yellowish oblong structure, (B) view under a microscope of little spherical dots.
Figure 1. A) A Beauveria bassiana infected codling moth caterpillar discovered in Washington State, and B) Beauveria bassiana spores.
(A) View under a microscope of a roughly peanut-shaped structure mottles with black dots and spotted with white and grey filaments, (B) view under a microscope of little oval dots.
Figure 2. A) A Metarhizium anisopliae infected codling moth caterpillar discovered in Washington State, and B) Metarhizium anisopliae spores.

Future

  • Continue infecting healthy codling moth larvae
  • Select for the most virulent strains
  • Develop those strains into biopesticides
  • Identify, screen, and develop new strains from new collections
(A) View under a microscope of an oblong structure coated in a halo of golden fuzzy hyphae, with hornlike fruiting bodies protruding from the structure, (B) view under a microscope of filamentous hyphae and spherical spores.
Figure 3. A) A Hirsutella / Orphiocordyceps infected codling moth caterpillar discovered in Washington State, and B) Hirsutella / Orphiocordyceps spores.

Thank you to funders

USDA
Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission
WSU Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources

Contacts

RT Curtiss
rcurtiss@wsu.edu

Cesar Reyes Corral
cesar.reyescorral@wsu.edu

Tobin Northfield
tnorthfield@wsu.edu

Washington State University