Abstract
occurrence and distribution of entomopathogenic agents were studied in soil samples collected from three districts at Suez Canal area, Egypt. Entomopathogens were isolated by the bait method using larvae of Mediterranean flour moth, Anagasta kuehniella Zeller. Twenty-six fungal genera infected, three bacterial species and one species of nematode were identified using morphological characteristics and molecular technique. Distribution and occurrence were significantly varied among the three studied districts and biological agents. The occurrence of the entomopathogens in the collected soil samples were 49.11, 24.56, and 4.63% found out in 138.0, 69.0 and 13.0 of the total soil samples (281) in the three surveyed districts of Ismailia, Suez and Portsaid, respectively. Therefore, the highest frequency was occurred in Ismailia at 62.23%, followed by Suez district 31.36%. The lowest frequency has occurred in Portsaid district at 5.91%. On the other hand, the entomopathogenic fungi were the most abundant of the studied entomopathogenic agents, in the three districts representing 40.21, 16.73, and 3.56% in Ismailia, Suez and Portsaid, respectively. The existed bacteria in the surveyed districts were representing 6.76, 6.76 and 1.07% in Ismailia, Suez and Portsaid, respectively, whereas, the entomopathogenic nematode was the lowest, representing 2.14 and 1.07% in Ismailia and Suez districts, respectively. The pathogenicity of the obtained agents was estimated using Koch’s postulates. The mortality rates of A. kuehniella larvae were found to range from 12.67 to 86.00%. Isolated fungi, Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae, Paecilomyces fumosoroseus and Lecanicillium lecanii were the most virulent bioagents. Biodiversity indices results revealed that the variance among the three districts were significant differences in all diversity indices (richness, evenness, Shannon and Simposen indices). The community of entomopathogenic species recorded in Ismailia district was significantly more diverse of pathogen communities than recorded in Suez and Portsaid. The gained results clarify that soil physiochemical properties affect the level of occurrence of the microbial agents in quantitatively. Keywords: Entomopathogenic agents,
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