A method of cultivation and a culture medium were developed aiming at the mass production of fungus Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.) Sorokin, 1883, with great concentration and purity of conidia. This method involved the M-61 strain of entomopathogenic fungus in liquid medium of rice, yeast extract, soybean bug extract (Nezara viridula (L., 1758) Hemiptera, Pentatomidae), under six differents concentrations of sugar (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10g l-1), and the solid conventional medium of rice grains. The biomasses obtained were filtered and put in an incubator to promote sporulation. The treatments were evaluated through the parameters wet and dry-weight of micelium, number of conidia per gram of substrate, viability and pathogenicity of conidia against the bug. It was observed that the sugar concentration of 2.0g l-1 in extract of N. viridula produced two times more conidia per gram of substrate when compared to 10.0g l-1, and 51 times cheaper than the conventional process of production of fungus. Viability was not affected by the different culture media. Significant differences did not occur in the pathogenicity among culture media and cultivations methods.
Metarhizium anisopliae; submerged cultivation; production cost; Nezara viridula
