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Parasitism of single or combined pyralid populations by Venturia canescens and Habrobracon hebetor in laboratory and storeroom conditions

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Abstract

Venturia canescens and Habrobracon hebetor are cosmopolitan parasitoids found in large numbers in food processing facilities in northeastern Spain and in many other countries. These parasitoids attack larvae of pyralid moths, which are important pests of stored products and food industries worldwide. In this study, we evaluated the performance of these two parasitoids when offered single or combined populations of Plodia interpunctella and Ephestia kuehniella, since these can occur together in storehouses. We tested the parasitoid’s performance in small cages under laboratory conditions and small experimental storerooms (≈ 30 m3). In the laboratory, the two parasitoids were able to reduce pyralid populations by more than 37% over a 48-h period (40–44% for E. kuehniella, 37–41% of P. interpunctella and 53–55% of both hosts when offered together). Similar results were obtained in small storerooms after 10 days: a > 35% reduction in pyralid populations also was obtained when host species were offered either singly (E. kuehniella or P. interpunctella) or in combination (E. kuehniella + P. interpunctella) (35–57% for E. kuehniella, 40–54% of P. interpunctella and 41–46% of both hosts when offered together). Parasitism was consistently good from June through November (mean temperatures from 18 to 28 °C and 9.5 to 15 h of daylight). Therefore, both parasitoids, single or in combination, can be efficient biological control agents of these two pyralid moths when infesting stored food facilities.

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank Silvia Rascón, Victor M. Muñóz and Pilar Hernández for their technical assistance. This research was funded by Instituo Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias (INIA), from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grants RTA2011-00025-C02-01 and RTA2014-00006-C02-01), and by CERCA Programme (Centres de Recerca de Catalunya) from the Generalitat de Catalunya.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IRTA, Ctra. Cabrils Km 2, 08348, Cabrils, Barcelona, Spain

    Cristina Castañé, Jordi Riudavets & Eric Lucas

  2. Département des Sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, Montreal, QC, H3C 3P8, Canada

    Eric Lucas

Authors
  1. Cristina Castañé
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  2. Jordi Riudavets
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Correspondence to Cristina Castañé.

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Additional information

Communicated by C.G. Athanassiou.

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Table 1

. Maximum, minimum and mean temperature and relative humidity in one storeroom during the period of this experiment. The number of hours of light of the experimental period is also indicated. (DOCX 16 kb)

Table 2

. Analysis of variance (Kruskall Wallis test) followed by pairwise Mann–Witney U tests of the number of larval hosts that completed development from both moth species in the presence or absence (control treatment) of the parasitoids H. hebetor and V. canescens. The P values were corrected for multiple comparisons using the Bonferroni technique. Chi-square test of the proportion of males of the F1 progeny of H. hebetor, in the laboratory experiment. (DOCX 14 kb)

Table 3

. Student t test of the biocontrol potential of H. hebetor and V. canescens, that is the proportion of parasitoid females produced per surviving host in relation to the proportion of parasitoid females released (0.2 per host larvae), in the laboratory experiment. (DOCX 14 kb)

Table 4

. One way analysis of variance followed by Tukey-tests of the number of larval hosts that completed development from both moth species in the presence or absence (control treatment) of the parasitoids H. hebetor and V. canescens, of the host selection of two parasitoids, and of the number of F1 progeny produced by the two parasitoids on the two hosts, in the small room experiment. (DOCX 15 kb)

Table 5

. Chi-square test of the proportion of host patches (traps) parasitized by the parasitoids H. hebetor and V. canescens in each corner of the room. No comparisons were made for V. canescens with P. interpunctella because only one trap was parasitized. (DOCX 15 kb)

Table 6

. Student t test of the biocontrol potential of H. hebetor and V. canescens in the small room experiment. The proportion of parasitoid females produced per larval host that completed development was calculated using the H. hebetor sex ratio determined in the laboratory experiment (0.27 with E. kuehniella, 0.27 with P. interpunctella, and 0.43 with E. kuehniella plus P. interpunctella). (DOCX 15 kb)

Fig. 1

. Mean (± SE) percentage mortality of adults moths (E. kuehniella [EK], P. interpunctella [PI] or both pyralids combined [EK-PI]), when normalized to the control treatment, in the different treatments considered when the parasitoids H. hebetor (HH) and V. canescens (VC) were released during a 48-h period. There were no significant differences among treatments (P < 0.05). (DOCX 17 kb)

Fig. 2

. Percentage of females and males of H. hebetor (HH) produced when 20 larvae of E. kuehniella (EK), P. interpunctella (PI) or a combination of both (EK-PI) were offered during a 48-h period. Significant differences (P < 0.05) in the proportion of males are indicated by an asterisk. (DOCX 18 kb)

Fig. 3

. Mean (± SE) percentage mortality of adults moths (E. kuehniella [EK], P. interpunctella [PI] or both pyralids combined [EK-PI]), when corrected by mortality in the control treatment, in the different treatments considered when the parasitoids H. hebetor (HH) and V. canescens (VC) were released during a 10-day period. There were no significant differences among treatments (P < 0.05). (DOCX 52 kb)

Fig. 4

. Percentage of traps containing host larvae parasitized by H. hebetor or by V. canescens according to their location in the eight corners of a room, four on the window wall versus four on the opposite wall (graphs A, B and C), and four on the ground versus four on the ceiling (graphs D, E and F). (DOCX 49 kb)

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Castañé, C., Riudavets, J. & Lucas, E. Parasitism of single or combined pyralid populations by Venturia canescens and Habrobracon hebetor in laboratory and storeroom conditions. J Pest Sci 91, 1421–1428 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-018-1010-0

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