EVALUACIÓN DE SUSTRATOS NATURALES PARA LA PRODUCCIÓN DE CONIDIOS DE Beauveria bassiana (BALS.) VUILL. (HYPOCREALES: CORDYCIPITACEAE) EN CULTIVO BIFÁSICO

The search for new and better ways to stimulate sporulation of entomopathogenic fungi is essential for the development of mass production of inoculants for the control of some insect pests that cause economically important losses. The production of conidia from two native strains of Beauveria bassiana (HIB-4 4 HIB-7) and a collection strain (GHA) in biphasic culture using rice, oats, barley, corn, sorghum and wheat as substrates was evaluated. Conidia production on the various substrates used took place in a range of 108 conidia/g and no significant statistical differences (p≤0.05) between the different fungi tested were found, whereas for the production of conidia between different substrates were found statistically significant differences (p≤0.05) were fopund. The highest production was obtained with oat at 5.00×108 conidia/g and the lowest, for barley, was 1.72×108 conidia/g. Rice production was 3.15×108, sorghum and maize 2.68, and wheat 2.38×108 conidia/g, respectively. Viability remained >95% for the storage of all strains for four weeks, both at room temperature and refrigerated.