Efficient Biocontrol Ofspodoptera Littoralisbyaspergillus Nidulans, An Endophyte Oflantana Camara

Spodoptera littoralishas been recognized as a very destructive polyphagous insect, thus, searching for novel bioagents is the current challenge. Endophytic fungi have been recognized as repertoire for bioactive compounds. Thus, the objective of this work was to isolate endophytic fungi inhabitingLantana camaraand evaluating their insecticidal activity againstS. littoralis. Aspergillus nidulans,an endophyte ofL. camara,displayed a significant larvicidal activity towards 2(nd)larval instar ofS. littoralis. The morphological identity ofA. nidulanshas been confirmed from the molecular sequence of ITS region, with genbank accession # MK367603 and deposition # AUMC 14095. The bioactive metabolites ofA. nidulanswere extracted with EtOAc and DCM and their bioactivity towardsS. littoraliswas assessed. The values of LC(50)were 22.6 and 34.4 mu g/mL for dichloromethane and ethylacetate extract, respectively after 18 days of treatment. The chemical identity of insecticidally active compounds was resolved by GC-MS analysis, revealing the presence of major compounds namely 1-docosanol and 1-octadecanol on the EtOAc extract, while cis-9-hexadecenoic acid, and 1-octadecanol were found in the DCM extract. These results indicate that this endophytic fungus could be a potential source for bioactive metabolites and can be used in integrated pest management and other important applications.