Effect of culture medium on the production and virulence of submerged spores of Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana against larvae and adults of Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)

Three Metarhizium anisopliae and three Beauveria bassiana isolates were cultivated in media containing casamino acids, soybean flour or sunflower seed flour and were shaken for three days. M. anisopliae presented similar yields of around 10⁶ submerged spores/ml without significant differences among them, whereas B. bassiana produced yields of around 10⁸ spores/ml, of which GHA strain produced more submerged spores in the casamino acids medium. The other two strains showed no significant difference in the production of submerged spores in the three media used. Differences in mortality on Aedes aegypti larvae were observed with the submerged spores of Metarhizium depending on isolate and medium used. M. anisopliae 2157 caused significantly higher mortality (40%) when cultivated in casamino acids medium. It presented an LC₅₀ of 8.93 × 10⁵ submerged spores/ml water against mosquito larvae five days after application, whereas it caused 27% mortality in Ae. aegypti adults 10 days after application. In conclusion, fungal nutrition affected virulence of some isolates of M. anisopliae against Ae. aegypti larvae while such an effect was not noted for B. bassiana isolates.