Use of Solid-State Fermentation on Selected Agricultural wastes for Mass Production of Beauveria bassiana

Two isolates of Beauveria bassiana were grown on different agricultural waste mediums to evaluate their conidia production potential under Solid State Fermentation (SSF). Coffee husk, wheat bran, tea and vegetable wastes were used as substrates. Among the substrates, vegetable wastes best favored to isolate II (AUBI2) for 5.77±l .53 (1 0 ) , conidia/gram yield. Whereas, the highest conidia count record 6.34 ± 2.27 (107) conidia/gram o f AUBil was obtained at 60% moisture content on wheat bran. All substrates supported maximum conidia yield at 30°c . At pH 3.5 AUBII produced 11.63 ± 8.34 ( I 0 7) conidia/gram on coffee husk but the high conidia yielding substrates were best favored at their natural PH values. Vegetable wastes supported AUB11. AUBI2, to produce high conidia yield o f 4.31 ± 1.18 (10 7), 5.07 ± 0.76 (107) conidia/gram o f substrate at 21 days incubation period respectively. The optimum incubation period on wheat bran was 4 weeks under sufficient exposure to light. Successful biological control depends on cheap availability o f the agent. Therefore, large scale industrial production on vegetable w'aste and wheat bran can be the plausible solution Pest Managment Journal of Ethiopia , Vol. 20 (2017): Pest Managemernt Journal of Ethiopia