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ABSTARCTIsolates of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana originated from Jordan were evaluated for their efficacy against the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae under laboratory and greenhouse conditions. Efficacy evaluation involved testing all isolates at a concentration of 1×10 7 conidia/mL followed by concentration dependent and greenhouse bioassays for the top virulent isolates. Growth characteristics related to virulence were evaluated for high, intermediate and low virulent isolates. Results showed that three isolates namely: BAU004, BAU018 and BAU019 were highly virulent to the aphid in the laboratory causing more than 75% infection. In the greenhouse, the three isolates caused infection from 41.3 to 46.5%. For the growth characteristics, isolate BAU019 produced more spores than the other highly virulent ones including the commercial isolate GHA. Highly virulent isolates also showed faster hyphal growth than low virulent isolates. These findings indicate that isolates BAU004, Bau018 and BAU019 might be developed as commercial microbial insecticides for safe and effective control of green peach aphid.

ABSTARCTThe insecticidal activity of essential plants oils against an important insect pest of fruit trees, the hairy rose beetle, was evaluated in topical and feeding applications in the laboratory. Essential oils that caused more than 50% mortality were further tested against the hairy rose beetle and the honey bee using different concentrations and their relative toxicities were evaluated. Results showed that eucalyptol and fir oils outperformed other tested oils and caused 72 and 64% mortality, respectively. These mortalities were not different from the application of the commercial insecticide, Deltamethrin. Moreover, eucalyptol and fir oils were more toxic to the hairy rose beetle than the dominant pollinator during fruit trees flowering, the honey bee. However, eucalyptol was relatively safer to the honey bees than fir oil. These findings indicate that eucalyptol might be applied during fruit trees bloom to control the hairy rose beetle even in the presence of honey bees if used for the crop pollination.