Effectiveness Beauveria bassiana as Pest Control Spodoptera frugiperda on Sweet Corn

Abstract

Spodoptera frugiperda is the main pest that attacks corn plants so control efforts need to be made. One alternative control method is using entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana (Bb). In this research, mushrooms were used B. bassiana against larvae S. frugiperda. This research aims to determine the effectiveness of B. bassiana in handling S. frugiperda in sweet corn plantations. This research used a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 6 treatments and 4 replications. Treatment uses a concentration of 10², 10^4, 10⁶ and 10⁸ mushrooms B. bassiana and as a comparison, namely sterile water which acts as control 1 and chemical insecticide as control 2 in this study. Research observations were carried out for 7 weeks. The results of this research indicate that the average percentage of plants attacked by entomopathogenic fungi B. bassiana own ability to suppress population S. frugiperda at a concentration of 10⁶ and 10⁸ namely 20.53 and 21. And the average percentage of attack intensity at a concentration of 10⁶ and 10⁸ namely 2.28 and 3.2.