Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran,Iran

2 Mohaghegh Ardebili University, Ardebil, Iran

3 Biological Control Research Department, Iranian Research Institute of Plant protection, Iran

4 Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Objective: In this study the efficacy of two agent of this biological control agent of corn stem borer in corn fields compared with common synthetic insecticides Endosolfan to find a suitable alternative for chemical control of pests in corn fields. Methods: In order to evaluate the efficiency of biocontrol agents of corn stem borer ,Ostrinia nubilalis, experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block by five treatments and four replication, including, Indoxacarb (Avant), Trichogrammawasps, Bacillus thuringiensis var: kurstaki, integration of Trichogramma sp. and Bt., and control as treatments number 1 to 5. In treatments with parasitoid release, four days after releasing the wasps, the number of parasitized eggs was recorded. In each plot, 20 plants were randomly selected for recording the number of the larval holes on corn stems. The number of damaged stems was recorded on the same number of corn plants before harvest. Statistically analysis of data was carried out by using MINITAB software. Results: In treated plots by egg parasitoid wasp, the range of egg parasitism was 10 to 28 percent. The number of larval holes was 1.05, 1.30, 1.55, 1.38, and 2.04 per plant in treatments number 1, 3, 4, and 5 respectively. There was significant difference among the treatments considering the number of larval holes. The number of damaged stem in treatments number 1, 3, 4, and 5 were 0.17, 0.59, 0.98, 0.80 and 1.60 per plant, respectively. There was significant difference among the treatments considering the number of damaged stems. Despite this, there was no significant difference among biological control treatments in the number of larval holes and number of damaged stems. The achieved results from present study were revealed that the efficiency of the egg parasitoid wasp, Trichogramma sp. is lower than examined Bt.

Keywords

Ahmad, S., Ashfaq, M., Hassan, M. U. and Sahi, S. T. 2012. Potential of parasitoid Trichogramma chilonis (Ishii) (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) against the sugarcane stem borer, Chilo infuscatellus (Lepidoptera;
Pyralidae) under field conditions. International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation 4 (1) 36-38.
Charles, P.-C., ORR , D. B. and Van Duyn. J. W. 2000. Trichogramma Releases in North Carolina Cotton: Why Releases Fail to Suppress Heliothine Pests. Economic Entomology 93(4): 1137-1145.
Godfray, H.C.J. 1994. Parasitoids behavioral and evalutionary ecology. Princeton Univ. Press.
Haffmann, M. P., Walker, D. L. and Shelton, A. M. 1995. Biology of Trichogramma ostriniae (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) reared on Ostrinia nubilalis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) and survey for additional hosts.
Entomophaga 40: 387-402.
Haffmann, M. P., Pitcher, S. A., Cheever, S. A., and Gardner, J. 2006. Efficiency of inoculative releases of Thrichogramma ostriniae ( Hymenoptera:
Trichogrammatidae) against European corn borer , Ostrinia nubilalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). Biological Control 36:345-349.
Kuhar, T. P, Barlow, V. M., Haffmann, M. P., Fleischer, S. J., Groden, E., Gardner, J., Hazzard, R., Wright, M. G., Ptcher, S. A., Speese, J and Westgate, P. 2004. Potential of Trichogramma ostriniae (Hymenoptera:
Trichogrammatidae) for Biological Control of European Corn Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) in Solanaceous Crops. Economic Entomology 97940: 1209-1216.
Li, Y. L. 1994.World wide use of Trichogramma for biological control on different crops. In: Wajnberg, E. and Hassan, S. A. ,eds. Biological control with egg parasitoid, CAB International, UK. 37-51.
Nagarkatti, S. and Nagaraja, H. 1997. Biosystematics of Trichogramma spp. and Trichogrammatoidea species. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 22: 157-176.
Neuffer, G. 1982. The use of Trichogramma evanescens Westw. In sweet corn fields. A contribution to the biological control of the European corn borer Ostrinia nubilalis Hbn. in south west Germany. Les Trichogramma, Antibes (France). April 20-23. 232-235.
Taghizadeh, M., Basiri, G and Sarifi, P. 2006. Biology of Corn Stem Borer, Ostrinia nubilalis, in Moghan Region.17th Iranian Plant Protection Congress, 2-5 Sep2006.
Wang, Z., He, K and Yan, S. 2005. Large- scale augmentative biological control Asian corn borer using Trichogramma in China. Second international
Symposium on biological control of arthropods. (China). 487-494.
Wei, J-Z., Hale, K., Carta, L., Platzer, E., Wong, C., Fang, SuC and Aroian, R. V. 2003. Bacillus thuringiensis crystal proteins that target nematodes. PNAS. 100 (5): 2760- 2765. Available on:
www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0538072100