02900naa a2200301 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001902200140006002400270007410000150010124501280011626000090024450005720025352014290082565300170225465300140227165300130228565300270229865300370232565300180236265300200238065300280240070000160242870000210244470000190246570000220248477300920250610650342025-02-03       2024    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d  a1999-49077 a10.3390/f151221702DOI1 aSIMETO, S.  aOvicidal Effect of Entomopathogenic Fungi on Emerald Ash Borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, Eggs.h[electronic resource]  c2024  aArticle history: Submission received 11 November 2024, Revised 4 December 2024, Accepted 7 December 2024, Published 9 December 2024. -- Academic editor:  Hui Sun. -- This article belongs to the Section Forest Health (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests/sections/forest_health ). -- Funding: This research was funded by the Minnesota Invasive and Terrestrial Plant and Pests Center, University of Minnesota, and USDA Hatch project MIN22-089. -- Supplementary materials: Supporting information can be downloaded at https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/f15122170/s1  --  aABSTRACT.- The emerald ash borer (EAB) is an invasive beetle that has killed hundreds of millions of ash trees throughout North America since its arrival. The use of entomopathogenic fungi as part of integrated pest management approaches is considered effective against a wide range of insect pests. The aim of this study was to screen and select locally adapted EAB-associated entomopathogenic fungi with ovicidal effect on EAB eggs under laboratory conditions. The pathogenicity of nine fungal strains, previously isolated from EAB galleries, and the commercial Beauveria bassiana strain GHA was tested. Three of these, Akanthomyces muscarius 48-27, Lecanicillium longisporum 66-14 Lecanicillium psalliotae 59-2, and GHA B. bassiana strain consistently showed significant ovicidal effects and a high percentage of inoculum recovery both from eggs and neonate larvae. The high levels of inoculum recovery from neonate larvae demonstrate that, even after emergence, larvae were infected. The possibility of disrupting EAB's life cycle at the egg stage through microbial control represents a potential management opportunity that should be explored in future field studies. Future work should also study the effect of EPF on neonate larvae survival and performance. To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the effect of entomopathogenic fungi against the egg stage of EAB. © 1996-2025 MDPI (Basel, Switzerland)  aAkanthomyces  aBeauveria  aEAB eggs  aEntomopathogenic fungi  aIntegrated pest management (IPM)  aLecanicillium  aOvicidal effect  aSISTEMA FORESTAL - INIA1 aHELD, B. W.1 aSHOWALTER, D. N.1 aBUSHLEY, K. E.1 aBLANCHETTE, R. A.  tForests, 2024, volume 15 (12), 2170. https://doi.org/10.3390/f15122170  -- OPEN ACCESS.