ELMER'S SCHOOL GLUE AND ELMER'S GLUE ALL: ARRESTANTS AND PROBING/OVI POSITION ENHANCERS FOR TRICHOGRAMMA SPP.

Authors: XIE, ZHONG-NENG - TEXAS AGRIC. EXPT. STN.; NETTLES, WILLIAM - CLEMSON UNIV.; Saldana, Guadalupe; Nordlund, Donald

Submitted to: Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/22/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The minute egg parasitoids of the genus Trichogramma are widely used as biological control agents for management of lepidopterous pests. However, current mass rearing technology relies on the use of insect eggs, rather than artificial diet. Use of artificial diet for mass rearing Trichogramma requires the ability to collect large number of Trichogramma eggs. This paper reports that Elmer's Glue All and Elmer's School Glue enhance oviposition into stretched plastic artificial eggs. These findings can be used to improve our ability to collect Trichogramma eggs for use in mass rearing systems. The development of artificial diet based mass rearing systems for these important biological control agents would significantly reduce production costs and increase production capacity, making use of Trichogramma much more competitive.

Technical Abstract: Elmer's School Glue and Elmer's Glue All when applied to the exterior surface of a stretched plastic artificial egg (SPAE), were found to be arrestants and probing/oviposition enhancers for Trichogramma spp. females. We observed that both glues elicited antennal drumming and ovipositor probing behaviors in female Trichogramma spp., retaining several times more eTrichogramma spp. females on the surface of glue treated SPAEs than did identical and adjacent SPAEs to which glue had not been applied. In choice tests with oviposition stimulant solutions encapsulated in treated and untreated SPAEs, the glue treated SPAEs contained 90.3% of the total number of Trichogramma minutum Riley eggs.