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journal1 ›› 2015, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (5): 699-711.DOI: 10.16409/j.cnki.2095-039x.2015.05.010

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History, Progress and Current Status of the Application of Fungi against Pest Insects in China

LI Zengzhi   

  1. Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Control, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
  • Online:2015-10-08 Published:2015-09-09

Abstract: The application of entomopathogenic fungi against pest insects started as late as the 1950s, with a history of only ca. 60 years. After 2 milestone events, on-the-spot workshop of the application of Beauveria bassiana against pine caterpillars, Xinhui, Guangdong in 1969, and the registration of an acridicidal oil suspension of Metarhizium acridum in 2002, a largest fungal insecticide industry with advanced technology has been established, with the largest application scale in the world, characterized by B. bassiana against pine caterpillars and Asian corn borer as one of the world renowned successful biological control programs, as the overall research has caught up globally advanced level, with world spotlight progress in the fields of molecular pathogenesis, gene engineering and comparative genomics. The present paper reviews the 60 years history of the application of entomopathogenic fungi against pests in China, and describes the research progress and current status in nuclear and mitochondrial variation and strain degeneration, molecular pathogenesis, gene engineering, comparative genomics, genetic diversity, ecological mechanism of sustainable pest control by entomopathogenic fungi, accurate evaluation of field efficacy of fungal insecticides, and tracing of fungal epizootics.

Key words: entomogenous fungi, fungal insecticide, biological control, Beauveria bassiana

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