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Title: COMPATABILITY OF F1 STERILITY AND A PARASITOID, COTESIA MARGINIVENTRIS (HYMENOPTERA: BRACONIDAE), FOR MANAGING SPODOPTERA EXIGUA (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE): ACCEPTABILITY AND SUITABILITY OF HOSTS

Author
item Carpenter, James
item HIDRAYANI - ANDALAS UNIV. INDONESIA
item SHEEHAN, W. - E&C CONSULTING ENGINEERS

Submitted to: Florida Entomologist
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/8/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The beet armyworm is a serious pest in cotton in the United States, especially during outbreak conditions. When the beet armyworm is irradiated with sub-sterilizing doses of radiation, deleterious effects, which can reduce the rate of reproduction for several generations, are passed from parents to their progeny. When management strategies involving sterility and parasites are combined, the effects can be both additive and synergistic. Sterile progeny from irradiated parents also can act as hosts for parasitoids. Beet armyworm larvae from parents exposed to radiation were tested as hosts for Cotesia marginiventris (no common name available), a larval parasitoid of the beet armyworm and other caterpillar pests. Parasitoid acceptance of larvae, and emergence from larvae that were progeny of irradiated fathers did not differ from larvae that were progeny of normal fathers. These findings suggest that strategies involving the combinant use of progeny from irradiated beet armyworm males with a parasitoid may be a feasible approach for managing this important pest of American agriculture

Technical Abstract: The potential for combining two alternative pest management strategies, F1 sterility and a parasitoid, was examined in the laboratory and in the greenhouse. Studies compared the acceptability and suitability of progeny from irradiated (100 Gy) and nonirradiated beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hubner), males as hosts for Cotesia marginiventris (Cresson). Results from these studies revealed that progeny of irradiated S. exigua males are both acceptable and suitable hosts for C. marginiventris development. Cotesia marginiventris females showed no oviposition preference between S. exigua progeny from irradiated and nonirradiated males. Cotesia marginiventris and F1 sterility appear to be compatible tactics that potentially could be integrated into a preventative pest management program for S. exigua.