Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Applied Soil Ecology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apsoil Multitrophic interactions between maize mycorrhizas, the root feeding insect Phyllophaga vetula and the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana Guadalupe Zitlalpopoca-Hernandez a , Miguel Bernardo Najera-Rincon b , Ek del-Val a,e , Alejandro Alarcon c , Trevor Jackson d , John Larsen a, ⁎ a Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro 8701 Ex-hacienda San José de la Huerta, 58190 Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico b Campo Experimental Uruapan, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP),Av. Latinoamericana 1101, Los Angeles, 60150 Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico c Posgrado de Edafología, Colegio de Postgraduados, Carretera México-Texcoco km. 36.5 56230 Montecillo, Texcoco, Mexico d AgResearch, Lincoln Research Centre, Private Bag 4749, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand e Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores Unidad Morelia Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro 8701 Ex-hacienda San José de la Huerta, 58190 Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Biocontrol Root health Herbivory Microbial interactions Arbuscular mycorrhiza ABSTRACT Root feeding larvae of Phyllophaga vetula causes severe damage in maize agroecosystems and their conventional management with chemical pesticides adversely affects the environment. Plant beneficial rhizosphere micro- organisms such as mycorrhzial and entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) offer an alternative sustainable pest management strategy, but their successful integration in agroecosystems requires profound knowledge about their ecology. Here we explored interactions between a commercial isolate of the EPF Beauveria bassiana and indigenous maize mycorrhizas and their single and combined effects against root herbivory from the insect larvae P. vetula. Maize plants were grown in a greenhouse for seven weeks in pots with P limited soil with all possible combinations of the three main factors including native arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) (without and with), EPF (without and with) and P. vetula (without and with). Root herbivory by P. vetula reduced plant growth and nutrition, and in addition reduced AMF root colonization. In contrast, AMF improved plant growth and P nutrition, but also reduced the population density of B. bassiana. Inoculation with B. bassiana increased root dry weight and counteracted a decrease in shoot N content from P. vetula root herbivory, despite that only 5% of P. vetula larvae were infected with B. bassiana. Dual inoculation with AMF and B. bassiana increased plant growth and N shoot content allowing the plants to compensate for the damage caused by P. vetula herbivory. In conclusion our results show that combination of native AMF populations and the EPF B. bassiana induce tolerance in maize from root herbivory by P. vetula in terms of plant growth performance and nutrition. 1. Introduction Maize is one of the world basic crops for human consumption and animal fodder (FAOSTAT, 2009). In Mexico, which is the origin of domestication of maize with a diverse genetic population (Sánchez et al., 2000), maize is covering around 36% of all arable land and is being cultivated by small holders and at industrial scale (Paliwal, 2001). Root feeding insects of the white grub complex Phyllophaga spp. (Coleoptera: Melolonthidae) cause severe yield losses in maize agroe- cosystems in Mexico due to their high abundance, diversity and wide distribution (Jackson and Klein, 2006; Rodríguez del Bosque and Morón, 2010). Conventionally chemical insecticides are used to manage root feeding insects, which however have strong environmental impacts contaminating soil and water ecosystems and adversely affect human health (Gómez-Arroyo et al., 2011). Development of insecticide resis- tance is another concern (Oerke, 2006), which causes new pest outbreaks increasing the amount of insecticides applied to agroecosys- tems. Also possible non-target effects of pesticides on plant beneficial http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2017.03.014 Received 5 November 2016; Received in revised form 11 March 2017; Accepted 13 March 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: jlarsen@cieco.unam.mx (J. Larsen). Applied Soil Ecology 115 (2017) 38–43 0929-1393/ © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. MARK