ABSTRACT

Maize is an important cereal crop worldwide. In Mexico, both hybrid and native genotypes are grown. Insect herbivory, mainly by the larvae of Spodoptera frugierda L, impose significant yield losses. Developing pest control strategies using natural enemies in an agroecological approach offers an environmentally sound alternative to minimise the input of pesticides in maize agroecosystems. Campoletis sonorensis is a native parasitoid that has shown significant control efficiency on S. frugiperda in the field, but many aspects of its ecology are largely unknown. In a controlled greenhouse experiment, we investigated the biocontrol efficacy of C. sonorensis in S. frugiperda feeding on four maize genotypes (two landraces and two hybrids). Our main results showed that maize genotype significantly affected C. sonorensis parasitism of S. frugiperda and consequently damage from herbivory. C. sonorensis diminished herbivore damage in all studied maize genotypes, and this effect was strongest in the maize hybrid PUMA. Our results show that the biocontrol efficacy of C. sonorensis against S. frugiperda is affected by the maize genotype, which should be further examined under field conditions.

摘要

玉米是世界范围内重要的谷类作物。在墨西哥，杂交和本地基因型都生长。昆虫食草，主要是草地贪夜蛾的幼虫，造成了显着的产量损失。在农业生态方法中利用天敌制定害虫控制策略提供了一种环境无害的替代方案，以最大限度地减少农药在玉米农业生态系统中的输入。Campoletis sonorensis是一种本地寄生蜂，在野外对草地贪夜蛾表现出显着的控制效率，但其生态的许多方面在很大程度上是未知的。在受控温室实验中，我们研究了C.sonorensis在S. frugiperda 中的生物防治功效以四种玉米基因型（两个地方品种和两个杂交品种）为食。我们的主要结果表明，玉米基因型显着影响了S. sonorensis对草地贪夜蛾的寄生，并因此受到食草动物的损害。在所有研究的玉米基因型中，C. sonorensis减少了食草动物的损害，这种效果在玉米杂交 PUMA 中最强。我们的结果表明C. sonorensis对S. frugiperda的生物防治功效受玉米基因型的影响，应在田间条件下进一步检查。