A new isolate of Metarhizium flavoviride Gams and Rozsypal (Hyphomycetes) (CG 423) found in Northeast Brazil infecting Schistocerca pallens (Thunberg) was identified using arbitrarily primed PCR. Cluster analysis of DNA markers revealed a high level of homogeneity (>83% similarity) among the Brazilian (CG 423) and two other M. flavoviride isolates from Nigeria (CG 366 = IMI 330189) and Australia (CG 291). However, M. flavoviride isolates were very distinct when compared with two isolates of Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff) Sorokin (6.4% similarity). Bioassays showed that strain CG 423 is as virulent as other isolates of M. flavoviride (CG 291, CG 366), M. anisopliae (CG 087), and Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin (CG 425) against the grasshopper Rhammatocerus schistocercoides (Rehn) (Orthoptera: Acrididae), an important pest in Central Brazil. However, the Brazilian isolate of M. flavoviride (CG 423) is more virulent than the Brazilian isolate of B. bassiana (CG 250). Because conidia used in bioassays were formulated in soybean oil containing 5% kerosene, the effect of the kerosene present in the oil formulation was tested. Kerosene (0–10%) did not affect the virulence (P > 0.3) of M. flavoviride against R. schistocercoides. The native isolate of M. flavoviride (CG 423) is now being developed as a mycoinsecticide against grasshoppers in Brazil.

No abstract

This study aimed to examine the performance of Embrapa in international technical cooperation as part of the Brazilian foreign policy in agriculture. The performance of Embrapa in this field has been centered in attending the demands presented by other countries. This procedure needs to be rigorously revised to migrate from a reactive -sometimes a passive -standing to a proactive standing. It is mandatory to have a clear system for prioritizing each cooperative country according to Embrapa and Brazilian needs.

The genetic variability of 27 individuals from two distinct populations (Northeast and Central Brazil) of the grasshopper Schistocerca pallens (Thunberg) and eight isolates of its natural pathogen, the fungus Metarhizium flavoviride Gams & Rozsypal, was investigated using RAPD analysis. For the grasshoppers, ten different 10-mer oligonucleotide primers of arbitrary sequence were selected for analysis, resulting in 79 scorable binary characters. The program RAPDDIP applied to S. pallens revealed nucleotide diversity of 2.3 and 2.2% for the populations from Rio Grande do Norte (Northeast Brazil) and Federal District (Central Brazil), respectively. These values indicate the presence of high genetic variability within these populations. Conversely, the value for nucleotide divergence (0.004) showed almost no distinction between the two populations. In the case of M. flavoviride, thirty-one 10-mer oligonucleotide primers of arbitrary sequence were selected for analysis, producing 388 scorable binary characters. A dendrogram obtained for M. flavoviride, using the program NTSYS, revealed high homogeneity (similarity ≥79.5%) among the 8 isolates analyzed. The Brazilian isolates, all from the same geographical area and host (S. pallens), were even more homogeneous (≥98.3%).

No abstract