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Preference of Cotesia flavipes (Cameron, 1891) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) for larvae of Diatraea saccharalis (Fabricius, 1794) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) fed on different sugarcane cultivars

The objective of this study was to evaluate the preference of the parasitoid C. flavipes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) for larvae of Diatraea saccharalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) fed on different sugarcane cultivars. The experiments were conducted in laboratory with two feeding conditions: larvae of D. saccharalis fed on artificial diet and larvae fed on artificial diet and kept temporarily on cane setts of the different cultivars. The resistant cultivars SP80-1842 and SP81-3250and the susceptible RB855536 cultivar to D. saccharalis were used in the experiment. The oviposition preference of C. flavipes females was evaluated in free-choice and no-choice tests, in a completely randomized design with four treatments and 15 replications. Larvae of D. saccharalis with 19 days of age were fed to mated females of C. flavipes with 24 hours of age in both tests.. For the free-choice test was used an olfactometer of four compartments, in which four females of C. flavipes were released in its center. For the no-choise test was used Petri dishes, each one with one larva of D. saccharalis treated under both feeding conditions. In these tests, it was determined the percentage of parasitism and continuously observed the behavior of the first choice of C. flavipes females at intervals of zero to one; one to three, three to five, five to eight and eight to ten minutes. Larvae of D. saccharalis reared in artificial diet with powdered stems of the cultivars were equaly preferred by females of the parasitoid C. flavipes; The percentage of parasitism of D. saccharalis larvae reared on artificial diets with powdered stems of the cultivars SP80-1042 and RB855536 were equaly parasitized by C. flavipes.

Saccharum spp.; extrinsic resistance; sugarcane borer; biological control; parasitoid


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