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Field performance of the parasitoid wasp, Trichogrammatoidea armigera (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) following releases against the millet head miner, Heliocheilus albipunctella (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in the Sahel

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Abstract

The effectiveness of the egg parasitoid Trichogrammatoidea armigera Nagaraja (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) in controlling Heliocheilus albipunctella de Joannis (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), a major insect pest of pearl millet in the Sahel was assessed during two consecutive years in Niger on-station and on-farm conditions. We found that released T. armigera were able to find and parasitize host eggs within pearl millet fields both on-station and in farmers’ fields. On-station releases of T. armigera led to an average 4.86-fold increase in T. armigera parasitism compared to control fields, where no parasitoids were released. Likewise, on-farm releases of T. armigera led to up to 5.31-fold more egg parasitism by T. armigera in release fields than in control. Our results suggest the effectiveness of T. armigera and lays the groundwork for using T. armigera in augmentative biological control of H. albipunctella in the Sahel.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this research was provided by the United States Agency for International Development under Cooperative Agreement No. AID- OAA-A-13-00047 with the Kansas State University Feed the Future Collaborative Research on Sorghum and Millet Innovation Lab (SMIL). The project was implemented by ICRISAT and partner institutions (University Dan Dicko Dankoulodo of Maradi, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals (GLDC-CRP). The authors are also grateful to farmers who graciously allow collecting data in their millet fields.

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  1. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), BP 12404, Niamey, Niger

    Laouali Karimoune & Malick N. Ba

  2. Université Dan Dicko Dankoulodo de Maradi, BP 465, Maradi, Niger

    Ibrahim B. Baoua

  3. Virginia Tech, 526 Price Fork Road, Blacksburg, VA, 24061-0378, USA

    Rangaswamy Muniappan

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  1. Laouali Karimoune
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  2. Malick N. Ba
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Correspondence to Malick N. Ba.

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Karimoune, L., Ba, M.N., Baoua, I.B. et al. Field performance of the parasitoid wasp, Trichogrammatoidea armigera (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) following releases against the millet head miner, Heliocheilus albipunctella (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in the Sahel. BioControl 65, 389–399 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-020-10015-0

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