Habrobracon hebetor Say as an effi cient parasite to control codling moth

Abstract

The article presents the estimation of the parasitic activity of Habrobracon hebetor against the codling moth, the initial population of which was captured in the apple orchard of All-Russian Research Institute of Biological Plants Protection. As a result of the research the biological peculiarities of the natural population of ectoparasite were studied, the host insect – the wax moth (Galleria mellonela L.) was selected, the effi ciency of the bioagent against caterpillars of middle and older ages of codling moth was studied, which was 51.7 and 75.6 %, respectively. In the organic apple orchard of the «List» group companies, the production of gabrobracon against codling moth was carried out on Liberty and Florina varieties of autumn maturation at the rate of 1500 individuals/ha. As a result of the experiment, uniform distribution of gabrobracon throughout the orchard was established. The degree of infection of the pest’s caterpillars by ectoparasite was 50-65 % and the fruit damage was 3.8 %. In order to include the bioagent in the system of orchard protection against the codling moth, a number of biological, biorational and chemical insecticides were evaluated in laboratory conditions for compatibility with ectoparasite. The survival rate of the gabrobracon population after Lepidocid, CK treatment was 79.8 %. The baculoviruses preparation FermoVirin YaP, based on granulosis of the codling moth, is absolutely non-toxic for H. hebetor (the imago emergence after treatment was 100 %, which indicates the complete compatibility of the entomophage and the preparation). On the basis of the received data the inclusion H. hebetor bioagent into the system of apple tree protection against the codling moth in conditions of plain part of Krasnodar region is expedient as it allows to increase the effi ciency of the biological protection system of the apple orchard.