Abstract
Controlling lepidopteran pests in soybean in Uruguay usually involves the application of chemical insecticides with risks to health and the environment. As part of an inundative biological control program using Trichogramma pretiosum, a plot trial at three sites located in the department of Soriano (Uruguay), in the 2019-2020 growing season, compared this conventional practice with different doses of the egg parasitoid, number of release capsules per hectare, different number of releases in the culture cycle and ground and aerial releases (with or without release capsules). Using the cloth method, the number of larvae per linear meter and the defoliation percentage were evaluated over 6 weekly samplings. Although the best results were obtained with the application of chemical insecticides, two releases of T. pretiosum by terrestrial methods, 20 days apart, or 4 weekly applications by means of a drone, reached the best results below the thresholds of sanitary intervention, both options with 200,000 parasitoids per hectare. This biological tool can differentiate and value Uruguayan agricultural production.
Highlights
Trichogramma wasps (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) are known as primary egg parasitoids of a wide range of hosts, especially Lepidoptera
As part of an inundative biological control program using Trichogramma pretiosum, a plot trial at three sites located in the department of Soriano (Uruguay), in the 2019-2020 growing season, compared this conventional practice with different doses of the egg parasitoid, number of release capsules per hectare, different number of releases in the culture cycle and ground and aerial releases
The lowest number of larvae was reached with treatment 6, followed by treatments 1, 2 and 4, that did not differ from each other (p < 0.05)
Summary
Trichogramma wasps (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) are known as primary egg parasitoids of a wide range of hosts, especially Lepidoptera. Studies on Trichogramma began in the early twentieth century, when Flanders[2] discovered the possibility of rearing it in a fictional host, Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier) (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae)(3). Their success is favored by their very short generation times, simple mass rearing systems, persistent economic efficiency and technologies adapted for commercial use[4](5)(6). The use of Trichogramma has been an essential part of pest management strategies in protecting crops against economically important agricultural and forest pests They are the most widely produced and released natural enemies throughout the world[5](7)(8). A key attribute of Trichogramma, as other egg parasitoids, is the fact that they attack the host eggs, and kill the host in the egg stage and kill the pest before it can damage the crop[4]
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