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Field evaluation of the egg parasitoid, Trichogramma evanescens West. against the olive moth Prays oleae (Bern.) in Egypt

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Abstract

In Egypt, Trichogramma evanescens Westwood (TE) is extensively used in inundative releases against a number of lepidopterous pests of several crops. However, the wasp had not been collected from olive groves. Field trials on the use of commercially available TE against the olive moth, Prays oleae (Bern.) (OM) were carried out for three successive years (2002–2004). The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of inundative releases of this wasp on damage reduction. The obtained results were encouraging since OM attacks were reduced by 42.9,71 and 69.9% and TE-treated trees yielded significantly bigger olive fruits by 10.5 and 12.5% than untreated trees in 2002 and 2004 olive seasons, respectively. However, parasitization levels indicated that the wasp is not well adapted to local environmental conditions of olive groves. The suggested measure to improve the quality of released wasps is to mass release of local wasps isolated during the present study, i.e., T. cordubensis Vargas and Cabello and T. euproctidis Girault.

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Acknowledgements

This work was conducted with financial support from the European Commission within the specific programme ‘Confirming the International Role of Community Research’, contract ICA4-CT-2001-1004 (TRIPHELIO: Sustainable control of lepidopterous pests in olive groves—integration of egg-parasitoid and pheromones). The author would like to thank Dr. Annette Herz, Institute for Biological Control, Darmstadt, Germany, for identifying the local parasitoids and for her technical advice.

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  1. Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

    Essam Agamy

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  1. Essam Agamy
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Correspondence to Essam Agamy.

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Communicated by M. Traugott.

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Agamy, E. Field evaluation of the egg parasitoid, Trichogramma evanescens West. against the olive moth Prays oleae (Bern.) in Egypt. J Pest Sci 83, 53–58 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-009-0273-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-009-0273-x

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