Entomopathogenic fungi isolates selection for egg control of tomato moth Tuta absoluta   Meyrick (Lepidoptera: gelechiidae) eggs

A pathogenicity study of 64 Metarhizium anisopliae var. anisopliae and 70 Beauveria bassiana isolates against tomato moth Tuta absoluta eggs, was carried out under laboratory conditions. The first evaluation was accomplished by spraying suspensions of 107 conidias mL-1 of each isolate directly on eggs, through a Potter tower. Mortality and conidia production on the eggs were significantly higher with the isolates M. anisopliae Qu-M558 and B. bassiana Qu-B911, Qu-B912 and Qu-B928. These isolates were newly evaluated using increasing conidia concentrations (0 to 108 conidia mL-1) of each of the five selected isolates. The isolates Qu-B912 and Qu-M558 produced the highest mortality percentages based on the area under mortality progress curve for each concentration, 80 and 60%, respectively