B. Ramanujam

Biography

Dr. B. Ramanujam is involved in collection, characterization, mass production & formulation and evaluation of entomofungal pathogens for crop pest management at NBAII, Bangalore for the past 11 years. An excellent germplasm collection of 185 isolates of entomofungal pathogens (Beauveria, Metarhizium, Lecanicillum, Paecilomyces, Nomuraea and Ashersonia) from diverse agro-climatic regions of the country was made which can be exploited for non-chemical insect pest management programmes. Data bases of all these isolates with regard to cultural & morphological characters, molecular identification through ITS sequencing, insect cuticle degrading enzyme production capacities, toxin production capacities and virulence on certain lepidopteran and sucking pests have been generated. Based on the ITS sequence analysis, 31 Indian isolates of Verticillium lecanii are now placed under four species Lecanicillium viz., L. lecanii, L. attenuatum, L. longisporum and L. muscarium. Studies on cultural characters helped in identifying highly sporulating isolates of B. bassiana, B. brongniartii, M. anisopliae, Lecanicillum spp., and Paecilomyces spp. Promising isolates against Helicoverpa armigera, Spodoptera litura Plutella xylostella, Chilo partellus, Aphis craccivora, Myzus persicae, Bemisia tabaci were identified based on bioassays, toxin production abilities and cuticle degrading enzyme production capabilities. ITS sequences of 167 isolates of these fungi were submitted to NCBI GenBank and were published. Oil formulation of promising isolates of B. Bassiana and M. anisopliae were developed using a combination of vegetable oil and mineral oil along with adjuvants for emulsification, stabilization and UV protection for management of sucking pests in vegetables.

Research Interest

Presently working on Entomofungal pathogens for pest control and fungal antagonistic for disease management