BIOLOGICAL CONTROL (INSECT PATHOGENIC FUNGI)

Abstract. At the beginning of 2014, in some citrus-producing village in Bangli Regency, Bali, Indonesia, the types of fungi with characteristic yellowish orange to orange was discovered and predicted to be a disease of citrus. To get the correct conclusion of these phenomena, the research about the fungi is needed. Therefore, the study was conducted to identify the fungi base on morphology and molecular characteristic. After a laboratory analysis, it is estimated that the fungi is an entomopathogenic fungus of the genus Aschersonia and not a disease of citrus plant. The DNA target of Aschersonia between 500-600 bp was success amplified with pair of primers ITS-1 (5’-TCCGTAGGTGAACCTGCGG-3’) and ITS-4 (5’-TCCTCCGCTTATTGATAT-GC-3’). Based on morphological analysis and molecular identification that includes stroma forms, forms of conidia, and gen similarity with phylogenic analysis, the Aschersonia fungi was concluded as Hypocrella raciborskii or Aschersonia placenta.