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Using Trichogramma Westwood (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) for insect pest biological control in cotton crops: an Australian perspective.

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Davies, A.P., Carr, C.M., Scholz, B.C.G. and Zalucki, M.P. (2011) Using Trichogramma Westwood (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) for insect pest biological control in cotton crops: an Australian perspective. Australian Journal of Entomology, 50 (4). pp. 424-440.

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Article Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-6055.2011.00827.x

Publisher URL: http://www.wiley.com

Abstract

Trichogramma Westwood egg parasitoids alone generally fail to suppress heliothine pests when released in established cotton-growing regions. Factors hindering their success include indiscriminate use of detrimental insecticides, compensation for minimal pest larval hatch due to their activity via reduced larval cannibalism or mortality in general, singly laid heliothine eggs avoiding detection and asynchronous development benefiting host over parasitoid. Yet, despite these limitations, relatively large Trichogramma pretiosum Riley populations pervade and effectively suppress Helicoverpa (Hardwick) pests in Australian Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner)-transgenic cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., crops, especially in the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) of tropical northern Australia, where their impact on the potentially resistant pest species, Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner), is considered integral to the local insecticide resistance management (IRM) strategy for continued, sustainable Bt-transgenic cotton production. When devoid of conventional insecticides, relatively warm and stable conditions of the early dry season in winter grown ORIA Bt-transgenic cotton crops are conducive to Trichogramma proliferation and biological control appears effective. Further, there is considerable scope to improve Trichogramma's biological control potential, in both the ORIA and established cotton-growing regions, via habitat manipulation. It is proposed that Trichogramma may prove equally effective in developing agricultural regions of monsoonal northern Australia, and that environmental constraints on Trichogramma survival, and those of other natural enemies, require due consideration prior to their successful application in biological control programs.

Item Type:Article
Additional Information:© 2011 The Authors. © The Australian Entomological Society.
Keywords:Helicoverpa; resistance management; transgenic crop; tropical cotton; microbe-associated parthenogenesis; moth lepidoptera-tortricidae; North-American trichogramma; polymerase-chain-reaction; wasp species; egg parasitoids; pretiosum riley; t-pretiosum; reproductive compatibility; molecular-identification.
Subjects:Plant pests and diseases
Plant culture > Field crops > Textile and fibre plants
Science > Entomology
Live Archive:27 Feb 2012 02:38
Last Modified:03 Sep 2021 16:49

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