Effect of host switching on performance of mass‐reared Trichogramma minutum |
| |
| Authors: | R S Bourchier S M Smith J E Corrigan J E Laing |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Faculty of Forestry , University of Toronto , Toronto, Ontario, Canada , M5A 3B3;2. Forest Pest Management Institute , PO Box 490, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada , P6A 5M7;3. Department of Environmental Biology , University of Guelph , Guelph, Ontario, Canada , NIG 2W1 |
| |
| Abstract: | The effect of host switching on parasitism by Trichogramma minutum Riley (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) (TM) was examined for parasitoids attacking a factitious host, the Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella Zell. (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) (MFM), and a natural host, the eastern spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) (SBW). Parasitoids that were switched from rearing on the natural host to rearing on the factitious host had lower realized fecundities on both MFM and SBW eggs than a control line that was maintained continuously on the natural rearing host, SBW eggs. Conversely, T. minutum reared on the factitious host and switched to rearing on the natural host showed greater realized fecundities. This increase in realized fecundity was lost in the first generation after switching parasitoids back to the factitious rearing host. T. minutum that were maintained on the natural rearing host (SBW eggs) showed more variation in realized fecundity and host acceptance of both MFM and SBW eggs, than parasitoids that were reared on MFM eggs. |
| |
| Keywords: | Trichogramma minutum Choristoneura fumiferana Ephestia kuehniella biological control inundative release parasitoid |
|
|
