The tomato leaf miner Tuta absoluta, originally from South America, is an invasive species threatening European tomato crops. Since various insecticides have become ineffective in controlling T. absoluta, effective and environmentally friendly alternatives are needed. Biological control, especially by Trichogramma parasitoids, is considered to be an effective means of reducing this pest. Thus, the aim of our study was to identify promising candidates of Trichogramma parasitoids for biological control of T. absoluta in Europe. We assessed the efficiency of nine European Trichogramma species and compared them to Trichogramma achaeae, as this species is already commercially available. Firstly, we verified species identity of the 10 rearing strains using molecular and morphological methods. Then, host acceptance, host preference (T. absoluta vs. rearing host Sitotroga cerealella eggs) and host searching capacity were tested under laboratory conditions. Our results indicated that T. nerudai, T. pintoi and T. cacoeciae achieved a similar level of parasitism on potted tomato plants as T. achaeae. For the next step, these promising strains should be tested under greenhouse conditions.

中文翻译：

---

欧洲赤眼蜂属物种作为针对番茄叶矿工Tuta absoluta的生物防治剂的适用性。

番茄叶矿工Tuta absoluta来自南美，是一种威胁欧洲番茄作物的入侵物种。由于各种杀虫剂在控制绝对黑麦草中已变得无效，因此需要有效和环保的替代品。生物防治，特别是通过赤眼蜂寄生虫的生物防治，被认为是减少这种有害生物的有效手段。因此，我们的研究目的是确定在欧洲有绝对优势的赤眼蜂寄生虫的生物防治方法。我们评估了九种欧洲赤眼蜂物种的效率，并将其与赤眼蜂，因为该物种已经可以买到。首先，我们使用分子和形态学方法验证了这10个育种菌株的物种同一性。然后，在实验室条件下测试了寄主的接受程度，寄主的偏好（T. absoluta vs.寄主寄主Sitotroga谷类鸡蛋）和寄主搜索能力。我们的研究结果表明，T. nerudai，T.多年生和T. cacoeciae盆栽番茄植物为实现寄生相似水平的T. achaeae。下一步，应在温室条件下测试这些有希望的菌株。