Parasitism Efficiency of Trichogramma evanescens (Westwood) on Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) Eggs under the Laboratory Conditions

Abstract

This study were carried-out to determine the potential parasitism of Trichogramma evanescens (Hymenoptera:Trichogrammatidae) on Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) egg masses under laboratory conditions. Egg masses of S. frugiperda and Sitotroga cerealella were exposed to T. evanescens females to detect its ability to parasitize Fall armyworm (FAW) egg masses and to evaluate the fitness components of emerged parasitoids after the parasitism. Parasitism percentage, percentage of adult’s emergence, fecundity of emerged females, longevity and general productivity, females ratio in progeny were investigated for parasitoids females produced from parasitized FAW and Sitotroga eggs as control. Obtained results revealed that, females of T. evanescens accepted and succeeded in parasitizing all the offered FAW egg masses and the eggs of Sitotroga with the parasitism percentage of (96.69% and 93.25%) respectively., The parasitism resulted in the production of the highest percentage of emerged individuals (97.27% and 94.87%) from parasitized eggs of FAW and Sitotroga,  respectively, with high ratio of females in the progeny (71.94% and 69.83% respectively) The females had a fecundity of (54.88±0.40 and 53.71±0.42 eggs) FAW and Sitotroga eggs, respectively, and recorded the longest life span of (5.93±0.6 and 5.59±0.6 days),respectively.