Control of Pest Insects with Entomopathogenic Microorganisms in Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa)

Abstract

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) is one of the most promising crops of the Ecuadorian sierra for its adaptability to the environment and for its growing demand in domestic and international markets, in addition to the nutritional advantages that it possesses to the beneit of its consumers. At present the international markets prefer the product free of chemical substances that harm the biological quality of the grain. An alternative to production that is friendly to the environment is the biological control of pests and sicknesses that affect the productivity of the crop. The trial, developed on the Experimental Farm of the Agricultural and Environmental Sciences School of the PUCE-SI, had an objective of testing the predatory action over the pests that are present en the cultivation of the variety of Tunkahuan. For the trial the following were used: beauveria bassiana, lecanicillium lecanii, metarrhizium anisoplae, nomuraea rileyi, provided by Biotechnology Laboratory of the Artisanal Agricultural Association of Farmers “Rio Intag”, “AACRI”. For the statistical analysis of the experiment we used a randomized block design with ive repetitions, the variables were: number of plants per meters squared (m2 ) at 30, 60, and 90 days and the yield in metric tons per hectare (tm/ha). The conclusions are that the agents used effectively controlled the attack of insect pests that are normally found in this crop. The pests are grouped into ive taxonomic orders: coleotera, thysanoptera, homoptera, diptera, lepidoptera. The greatest yield of grain was achieved when using metarrhizium anisopliae that obtained a yield of 1651.67 kg/ha-1.