Suitability of Trichogrammatoidea bactrae Nagaraja as an Egg Parasitoid of the Diamondback Moth Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus)

Laboratory evaluation of Trichogrammatoidea bactrae Nagaraja reared on Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton) as an egg parasitoid of Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus) was carried out at 26±1°C and 50-80 percent relative humidity. From each parasitized egg of C. cephalonica, up to 2 parasitoids emerged and there were almost equal chances of getting 1 or 2 parasitoids. Each female parasitized a mean of 4.6 and 6.4 eggs of P. xylostella and C. cephalonica during its mean survival of 1.7 and 2.3 days, respectively, and mean fecundity was 6.3 and 9.1 with a female biased sex ratio (64.6 and 68.6 percent females). The parasitoid failed to emerge from 45.9 and 38.9 percent parasitized eggs of P. xylostella and C. cephalonica. During post-embryonic development, 38.1 and 31.9 percent mortality was observed and maximum mortality was in the pupal stage.