The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of different soil types and compactness on Metarhizium anisopliae survival. The fungus survivorship was determined in four soil types: Red Latosol with clay texture, Red Latosol with medium texture, Red Yellow Podzolic with medium sand texture and Red Yellow Podzolic with sand-clay texture, with higher amount of organic material. To determine the effect of compactness on fungus survival the first three soil types were used with the following densities, respectively: 1.12, 1.32, 1.50g cm-3; 1.22, 1.44, 1.65g cm-3; 1.30, 1.50, 1.70g cm-3. The fungus survivorship was evaluated at zero, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120 days of incubation at 27 ± 1ºC, through colony forming units (CFU), in Petri dishes. There was significant effect of the soil type and compactness on the survival of the fungus. Survival was greater in the soil with sand-clay texture and high number of CFU was observed in sandy soil compared with medium texture and clay soil. A significant effect of compactness was verified for the soil type, but not for the medium sand texture soil. Despite the soil type, the fungus survivorship was greater when the soil compactness was at the medium density values. The effect of compactness was most effective in the medium texture soil, in which the fungus survival was lower in all densities.
biological control; ecology; entomopathogenic fungus; microbial control
