Sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), is a serious pest of many economically important crops. The insect has developed resistance to chemical insecticides. Therefore, the development of microbial agent such as entomopathogenic fungi, Lecanicillium lecanii is necessary. Spores of L. lecanii Btab01 was collected after cultivation on solid PDA and liquid RB (rice bran amended with 2% molasses) media. The bioassay was carried out with B. taabci nymphs for 7 days at 25℃ and 60% relative humidity. Further, mortality was corrected with appropriate controls. The results revealed that spores obtained from RB medium caused high mortality (98.31%) compared to PDA medium (93.94%). Spore concentrations 105, 106, 107, and 108 colony forming units (c. f. u) ml-1 caused 5.81, 33.80, 77.27, and 98.54% mortality, respectively. The mortality (100%) was observed for 4 days when L. lecanii spores was mixed with 0.1 - 0.3% soybean oil. Hence, it is concluded from this study, L. lecanii Btab01 cultivated on RB medium can be recommended to control the nymphs of B. tabaci. Spore suspension can be expected to high efficacy when soybean oil was blended.

• Yeo-jun Yoon(Department of Applied Biology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Chungnam National University, Organic Agriculture Division, NAAS, RDA)
• Jong-ho Park(Organic Agriculture Division, NAAS, RDA)
• Eun-jung Han(Organic Agriculture Division, NAAS, RDA)
• Min-ho Lee(Applied Entomology Division, NAAS, RDA)
• Yong-man Yu(Department of Applied Biology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Chungnam National University)