Life history traits and host-killing rate of Neochrysocharis formosa on Tuta absoluta
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Life history traits and host-killing rate of Neochrysocharis formosa on Tuta absoluta P. Guleria . P. L. Sharma . S. C. Verma . R. S. Chandel
Received: 3 February 2020 / Accepted: 21 April 2020 Ó International Organization for Biological Control (IOBC) 2020
Abstract To improve the biological control of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), we studied the life history traits and host-killing rate of Neochrysocharis formosa (Westwood) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) on T. absoluta at 25 ± 0.5 °C, 70 ± 5% RH and a L:D 14:10 photoperiod. The parasitoid was able to parasitize and host feed on the first, second and third instar host larvae with preference to the second instar. Life history traits and host-killing parameters were highest on the second instar host larvae compared to the first or third instar. The host-killing rate of the parasitoid was much higher than the intrinsic rate of increase. N. formosa appeared to be a potential biocontrol agent of T. absoluta and would supplement its biological control in tomato involving other biocontrol agents like Nesidiocoris tenuis (Reuter) and Necremnus spp. Keywords Biological control Eulophidae Gelechiidae Tomato leafminer Population parameters
Handling Editor: Stefano Colazza. P. Guleria P. L. Sharma (&) S. C. Verma R. S. Chandel YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, HP 173 230, India e-mail: [email protected]
Introduction The South American tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), is a potentially invasive and key pest of tomato, Solanum lycopersicum L., in different parts of the world (Biondi et al. 2018). Outside its native home, it was first noticed in Spain in 2006 (Urbaneja et al. 2007) and, since then, it has invaded over 90 countries (CABI 2020). The damage is caused by larval feeding on aerial plant parts, which may lead to 100 % of crop loss in the absence of appropriate control measures (Biondi et al. 2018). In newly invaded areas, T. absoluta quickly attained the pest status in spite of being sprayed heavily with insecticides (Desneux et al. 2010). Wherever T. absoluta invaded, the number of insecticide sprays increased considerably (Desneux et al. 2011). For example, in Spain, 15 new sprays of insecticides in a season were added in tomato integrate pest management programmes. Such increased use of insecticides leads to various environmental consequences including side effects on the biocontrol agents (El-Wakeil et al. 2013; Singh et al. 2016). This pest has high biotic potential, dispersal and ability to acclimatize to varied climates (Tonnang et al. 2015). As a result, it poses a threat to tomato cultivation all around the world (Desneux et al. 2010, 2011; Tonnang et al. 2015). In addition, its endophytic nature and the ability to develop insecticide resistance make it more challenging to control (Guedes et al. 2019). Under such circumstances, biological control based on the
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