## 4 Discussion  
This study emphasizes the benefits of entomopathogenic fungi for crop protection that are in addition to the direct mortality that the fungus causes. Aphids may come into contact with conidia on the surface of sprayed leaves that are also endophytically colonized, or with leaves on the same plant that have not been sprayed so have no surface conidia, but are endophytically colonized. Figure 6: Aldehydes **(A)** and alcohols, ketones, hydrocarbons, terpenoid and phenolic derivatives **(B)** (Mean \(\pm\) SE, from the two trials) emitted by melon leaves from different treatments (unsprayed leaves and sprayed leaves) in control and inoculated plants by different isolates: EABb 01/33-Su, EABb 04/01-Tip and EAMa 01/58-Su. Statistically significant differences were determined using the LSD (\(\alpha\) = 0.05). Using microbiological techniques, high levels of endophytic fungal colonization were detected within fungus-sprayed leaves, while endophytic fungi were recovered from 20-40% of leaf sections from unsprayed leaves on the same plants as the sprayed leaves. The use of more sensitive endophytic colonization-detection techniques may allow us to quantify the extent of colonization more accurately and decrease the risk of false negatives. Despite this, our results showed a significant decline in aphid survival on fungus-sprayed leaves that were also endophytically-colonized (leaves sprayed with the fungal suspension) compared with controls and this was consistent for all fungal isolates evaluated. However, when aphids fed on leaves that were only endophytically colonized there was only a significant difference in aphid mortality on leaves colonized with isolate EABb 01/33-Su compared with the control. Nevertheless, aphid mortality on leaves colonized by isolates EABb 04/01-Tip and EAMa 01/58-Su was significantly greater that the control at the 10% significance level. These results are consistent with the study of [PERSON] et al. [10], who also demonstrated that isolate EABb 01/33-Su had greater potential to control sap-sucking insects as an endophyte compared with the other isolates. A reduction in aphid reproduction on endophytically-colonized plants has been demonstrated previously [16; 17; 18; 33]. In our study we did not observe any effect of endophytic colonization on total _per capita_ aphid fecundity 6 days after exposure (8 days after leaf spraying). However, we did show, for the first time, a modification in the pattern of aphid fecundity during feeding on uninoculated but endophytically-colonized leaves; endophytic colonization accelerated aphid reproductive activity, revealing a different reproductive strategy than their control counterparts. This response ensured reproductive success achieved its full potential before the onset of fungal infection and death [34]. We observed significant qualitative and quantitative differences in the blend of volatiles released by endophytically-colonized and control leaves, which have potential to influence insect behavior. This is the first attempt to describe the total blend of volatiles released by endophytically-colonized melon leaves following herbivore damage. These VOCs are biosynthesized as primary and secondary metabolites by complex enzyme pathways distributed across different organelles or compartments within the plant. In general, the vegetative tissues of melon only release small quantities of VOCs but can be induced by mechanical damage by herbivores. In this regard, the use of homogenized melon plants (i.e., complete destruction of plant tissue) was effective in establishing differences in the volatile profiles emitted from leaves that had been inoculated with different isolates of fungi compared with controls. When endophytically-colonized and control melon leaves were infested by _A.