Modeling the effects of cymene on the distribution of germination and growth of Beauveria bassiana

摘要

Essential oils have antifungal and antipathogenic effects and therefore aretargets in plant pathology research for their potential uses as naturalsubstitutes for inorganic plant pesticides. Beauveria bassiana, anentomopathogenic fungus, can endophytically colonize a vast number of plantspecies and trigger induced systemic resistance against plant pathogens. Sporegermination is the most vulnerable in the fungal life cycle and is therefore agood candidate for monitoring the effect of essential oils on the growth of B.bassiana. Percentage germination of fungal spores and length of germinationtubes were recorded from experiments. A mathematical model that was able tocapture the effects of cymene, an essential oil produced by Monarda, on thegermination and growth was developed. This is the first report of a model forthe impact of essential oils on B. bassiana spore germination.