Assays with commercially produced Trichogramma (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) to determine suitability for obliquebanded leafroller (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) control

• Published in: Environmental entomology Vol. 26; no. 3; pp. 684 - 693
• Main Authors: Lawson, D.S, Nyrop, J.P, Reissig, W.H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Oxford University Press 01-06-1997; Entomological Society of America
• Subjects: AUXILIAIRE DE LUTTE BIOLOGIQUE; Biological and medical sciences; BIOLOGICAL CONTROL; BIOLOGICAL CONTROL ORGANISMS; CHORISTONEURA ROSACEANA; Control; CONTROL BIOLOGICO; EFFICACY; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; HUERTO FRUTAL; INSECTE NUISIBLE; INSECTOS DANINOS; INUNDATIVE RELEASE; LUTTE BIOLOGIQUE; MALUS PUMILA; NEW YORK; NUEVA YORK; ORCHARDS; ORGANISMOS PARA CONTROL BIOLOGICO; PARASITE; PARASITES; PARASITISM; PARASITISME; PARASITISMO; PARASITOID AUGMENTATION; PARASITOIDE; PARASITOIDES; PARASITOIDS; PARASITOS; PEST INSECTS; Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection; Protozoa. Invertebrates; Tortricidae; Trichogramma; TRICHOGRAMMA MINUTUM; TRICHOGRAMMA PLATNERI; TRICHOGRAMMA PRETIOSUM; Trichogrammatidae; VERGER; apple; biological control; Choristoneura rosaceana; Trichogramma spp; Host parasite relation; Laboratory study; Insecta; Biological control; Rosaceae; Malus domestica; Tortricidae; Pest; Parasitoid; Entomophagous; Arthropoda; Chalcidoidea; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Lepidoptera; Trichogrammatidae; Trichogramma; Spermatophyta; Fruit tree; Hymenoptera; Invertebrata; Parasitic efficiency
• ISSN: 0046-225X; 1938-2936
• DOI: 10.1093/ee/26.3.684

Laboratory assays were used to compare the ability of commercially produced Trichogramma spp. to parasitize eggs of the obliquebanded leafroller, Choristoneura rosaceana (Harris), in the laboratory and field. Trichogramma platneri Nagarkatti parasitized more obliquebanded leafroller eggs per egg mass than did Trichogramma pretiosum Riley or Trichogramma minutum Riley produced by either of 2 insectaries. T. minutum produced at 1 insectary caused significantly more host mortality by host feeding and repiercing than by parasitism. Variation in parasitoid performance from different insectaries and among shipments from the same insectary was common. Young egg masses were more heavily parasitized than old egg masses. Parasitism increased as the number of conspecific female Trichogramma spp. placed on the same host increased, but the number of eggs parasitized per female decreased. Exposure of host egg masses to female Trichogramma spp. prevented additional oviposition in the same egg mass by conspecific, ovipositionally experienced females but had no effect on parasitism by conspecific, ovipositionally naive females. The method used to attach sentinel egg masses to foliage influenced parasitism rates. Moistening the leaf with water and adhering the egg mass to the moistened leaf had the least impact. Inundative releases of Trichogramma spp. into an apple orchard paralleled laboratory assays by showing greater parasitism of obliquebanded leafroller egg masses by T. platneri than with T. minutum. However, extreme differences observed in field performance between the 2 species was not predicted from the assays