| Consumption rate of the parasitoid wasp, Eretmocerus delhiensis Mani on greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood |
| Paper ID : 1038-3IICE (R1) |
| Authors: |
|
Jafar Ebrahimifar *1, Arsalan Jamshidnia22 1Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvza, Ahvaz Province, Iran 2Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, College of Aburiehan, University of Tehran |
| Abstract: |
| The greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood (Hem., Aleyrodidae) is one of the most important insect pests that cause damage to the vegetable and other horticultural crops. Because of failing and expensive chemical control, many researches were directed at developing biological control by searching for efficient natural enemies of whiteflies. The parasitoid wasps such as Eretmocerus are one of the most important biological agents that used against greenhouse whitefly. The parasitoid wasp, Eretmocerus delhiensis Mani (Hym., Aphelinidae) is a native and active biocontrol agent in Khuzestan province, Iran. The aims of current research are efficacy of consumption rate the parasitoid wasp, E. delhiensis as a predator on T. vaporariorum feeding on tomato leaves. We chosed infested tomato leaves, each of which included 25 nymphal instars. Each leaf was fixed on a piece of moist filter paper in a 10-cm Petri dish to avoid desiccation. A few drops of water were occasionally added to the filter paper to keep them moist during the experiments. It was done daily until the death of the parasitoid wasp. The experiments were conducted using 50 replicates. Then, the consumption rate of E. delhiensis was calculated on nymphal instars on T. vaporariorum using by consumption rate analysis with CONSUME-MSChart. All experiments were conducted at controlled conditions of 25±1°C, 60 ±5%RH and a photoperiod of 16:8 h (L: D). Results showed that in addition to parasitism, the parasitoid wasp E. delhiensis also have predatory behavior which using by itself ovipositor kills the nymphs of T. vaporariorum that is called host-feeding or predation. After 7 days, killed hosts by host-feeding were flattened and desiccated. Moreover, the findings revealed that the daily consumption rate; the net consumption rate, C0; total consumption rate; the mean consumption rate of effective predator; age-stage consumption rate and maximum consumption rate of female adult were 2.12, 6.33, 456, 6.42, 15.18 and 18.01 preys/predator, respectively. Likewise, the consumption rate of E. delhiensis on 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th nymphal stages of greenhouse whitefly, T. vaporariorum were 2.10, 5.25, 3.69 and 1.69 nymph/predator, respectively. Clearly, this parasitoid kills their hosts not only by parasitism but also by host-feeding. Hence, it can be a promising candidate for biological control of greenhouse whitefly in biological programs. |
| Keywords: |
| predation rate; Eretmocerus delhiensis; parasitoid; host-feeding; Trialeurodes vaporariorum |
| Status : Paper Accepted (Poster Presentation) |
