Abstract
Ecological consideration is of key importance in finding fungi and other entomopathogens for managing insect pests. The probability of finding entomopathogenic fungi is increased by knowing the soil characteristics supporting fungal survival and diversity. Many opportunistic fungi are closely associated with EPF in soil. Diversity and occurrence of fungi were carried out from soil samples (145) and dead insects (225) collected from natural and cultivated areas of south Punjab. The relative research for the presence and abundance of EPF in samples of soils collected from cultivated to non-cultivated hilly lands show that fruit orchid can be considered as a richer in these fungal species. The EPF was mainly isolated from the collected (225) insect cadavers belonging to six insect orders out of which only 94 were positive for any category of fungus isolated. Insects from Coleoptera were reported with maximum occurrence (44.68%) for harboring any kind of the fungus followed by Lepidoptera (36.17%). Aspergillus niger (27.50%) was the most occurring taxa among all isolates, while Fusarium oxysporium was dominantly occurring specie (17.02%). It can be concluded that orchard soils that are least disturbed (tillage, weeding, etc) and supplied with ample moisture should be preferred for sampling in order to isolate the entomopathogens. Furthermore, insect cadavers from coleoptera and lepidoptera should be preferred for collection for the sake of entomopathogenic fungi.