Biocontrol Science and Technology (2022) 32, 267-280

Fatemeh Tabebordbar, Parviz Shishehbor, Ebrahim Ebrahimi, Andrew Polaszek and Eric W. Riddick (2022)
Parasitoid age and host age interact to improve life history parameters and rearing of Trichogramma euproctidis
Biocontrol Science and Technology 32 (3), 267-280
Abstract: Trichogramma euproctidis (Girault) is an egg parasitoid under consideration for mass production and augmentative biological control of major lepidopteran pests in Iran and other countries. The main objective of this research was to determine the effects of T. euproctidis female age and Ephestia kuehniella Zeller egg age on life history parameters of T. euproctidis. Experimental design involved exposing 1-, 2-, 3-, or 4-d-old E. kuehniella eggs to 1-, 2-, 3-, or 4-d-old T. euproctidis females in glass test tubes. Results indicated that host egg age and parasitoid female age interacted significantly to improve parasitism rate, progeny emergence rate, sex ratio, longevity, and fecundity of T. euproctidis. The age of T. euproctidis females affected parasitism rate; 1-d-old females, rather than the other ages, parasitised more E. kuehniella eggs. The highest mean total fecundity (81.62 eggs) was recorded from adult progeny produced by 1-d-old T. euproctidis females reared from 1-d-old E. kuehniella eggs. Trichogramma euproctidis development time increased as the age of E. kuehniella eggs increased, but the parasitoid female age and host egg age interaction was not significant. A life table analysis confirmed the results that 1-d-old T. euproctidis females and 1-d-old E. kuehniella eggs resulted in optimal effects on T. euproctidis life history. This study implies that mass rearing systems designed to expose young-aged T. euproctidis females to young-aged E. kuehniella eggs would maximise T. euproctidis progeny production.
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Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Parviz Shishehbor, Andrew Polaszek, Eric W. Riddick

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Ephestia kuehniella		Iran
Trichogramma euproctidis (parasitoid)	Ephestia kuehniella		Iran