| dc.description.abstract | Objective: This study was carried out to evaluate the biological attributes that is, parasitism, adult
progeny production, and sex ratio of 21 strains of a native egg parasitoid Trichogrammatoidea
sp. nr. lutea Girault (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) collected from Plutella xylostella Linnaus
(Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae) in coastal Kenya, reared on Corcyra cephalonica Sainton
(Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in the laboratory. Methods:Atotal of 21 accessions of T.sp. nr. lutea were
assembled from the Kenyan coast (Shimba hills and Muhaka sites). Preliminary experiments to
select the best performers among the 21 strains, based on biological attributes such as adult
longevity, parasitism, emergence, adult progeny produced and progeny sex ratio were conducted
under laboratory conditions (temperature of 27±2°C and 65±10% RH). Results: There were
significant differences (P<0.05) in all biological attributes studied among the strains. The overall
mean adult longevity was 9.31 days. Parasitism, emergence and sex ratio per adult female were
20.2%, 75.56% and 37.77% respectively. The wasp age influenced all the attributes tested
significantly (P<0.05) of T.sp. nr. lutea.
Conclusion: Four accessions (SH-1 and 4, MK-1 and 3) were selected and recommended from this
experiment based on adult longevity, parasitism, adult progeny produced and sex ratio for
further evaluation. The results from this study will be useful for mass rearing purposes as well as
for future field release programmes | en_US |
