New fungi may fight grasshoppers

Entomologist Stefan Jaronski with USDA'sAgricultural Research Service (ARS) at the agency's Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory in Sidney, Mont., is working with university and USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service scientists to evaluate several fungi that could be used as biocontrol agents against these hopping pests. ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency.

Jaronski and colleagues are currently evaluating three candidate fungi — Metarhizium robertsii DWR 346, M. robertsii DWR 356 and M. brunneum F52 —that could be used to control the grasshopper and Mormon cricket populations. The first two fungi were discovered through an exploratory program led by Utah State University professor Don Roberts. Field tests that began last summer in Montana, Wyoming and Utah will help determine if the fungi are suitable biocontrol agents.

Read more here.