Vol. 11, Special Issue 3 (2022)

Author(s):
Jumade Pratibha and Gawande Priya

Abstract:
Tick and tick borne diseases are one of the biggest public health and veterinary problems in the world. Control of ticks using chemical acaricides have developed resistance to wide range of acaricides and also producing environmental pollution. The demands of consumers for chemical free foods and the negative environmental effects of acaricides call for the development of alternative biological control strategies such as entomopathogenic fungi. An entomopathogenic fungus is a fungus that can act as a parasite of insects and kills or seriously disables them. Although entomogenous fungi have been used widely for the control of agricultural and forest pests, the applicability of bio-control potentials of entomogenous fungi against ticks has the promising results. The potential of entomopathogenic fungi as tick-control agents is due to ability to target different developmental stages of the host, relatively specific virulence, genetic variability, ability to penetrate through the cuticle and benefit of residual action. Entomopathogenic fungi such as Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae Nomuraea rileyi, Paecilomyces farinosus and Paecilomyces fumosoroseus are abundantly availed in soil as well as plant debris. The ready to use products are also available in market. Adhesion, germination and production of conidia are recognized as the main virulence factors of these fungi against ticks. Death of the insect is often due to a combination of the action of fungal toxins, physical obstruction of blood circulation, nutrient depletion and/or invasion of organs. Entomopathogenic fungi can be an alternative as a biopesticide to overcome the acaricidal resistance and environmental pollution.