The tomato leaf miner Phthorimaea (Tuta) absoluta is a highly destructive invasive pest of tomato and a continuing driver of insecticide use and resistance in many productions. Microbial biological control agents propose directed tactics fitting with integrated pest management (IPM). Following PRISMA 2020, peer-reviewed studies (2015–2026) evaluating entomopathogenic bacteria (EPB), fungi (EPF), and nematodes (EPN) against P. absoluta were systematically reviewed. Fifty-four unique studies met the inclusion criteria. The primary meta-analysis was restricted to laboratory mortality outcomes and comprised 197 effect-size estimates from 45 independent publications. Log risk ratios were synthesized using a multilevel random-effect model with estimates nested within publications, restricted maximum-likelihood estimation, and study-clustered CR2 robust inference.
Microbial treatments significantly increased mortality relative to untreated controls (RR = 13.65, 95 % CI: 9.43–19.78; 95 % prediction interval: 1.45–128.73; I2 = 78.35 %; p < 0.001). he pooled risk ratios were 7.83 for EPB, 16.02 for EPF, and 18.59 for EPN, although differences among microbial-agent groups were not statistically significant (p = 0.109). Pooled risk ratios were 10.22 for early-instar larvae (L1–L2) and 14.09 for late-instar larvae (L3–L4), with the difference between larval-stage groups approaching but not reaching statistical significance (p = 0.053). Exposure or application method significantly moderated treatment efficacy (p = 0.0449), whereas publication year and risk of bias did not. Greenhouse evidence was analysed separately and remained imprecise, while field and screenhouse evidence was too limited for quantitative pooling. Overall, microbial agents showed strong average efficacy against P. absoluta under controlled conditions; however, substantial heterogeneity, wide prediction intervals, and limited field evidence restrict the extent to which these findings can be generalized to operational IPM programs.