DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY AND FERTILITY LIFE TABLE PARAMETERS OF TRICHOGRAMMA BRASSICAE (BEZDENKO), ON EGGS OF SITOTEROGA CEREALELLA AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES, IN LABORATORY CONDITIONS

Carop moth Apomylois (Ectomyelois) ceratoniae (Zeller) is the key pest of Pomegranate. The carob moth eggs in Iran are attacked by the Trichogrammatid parasitoids, Trichogramma brassicae Bezdenko. These parasitoid wasps are used for pest control through augmentation of numbers by making mass releases. The knowledge of the thermal requirements and the effects of temperature are among many attributes that influence the outcome of biological control projects. In this study, biological characteristics such as rate of parasitism, sex ratio, emergence rate and longevity of adult females of T. brassicae, that were collected from Yazd province, were evaluated at three constant temperatures (20, 25 and 30°C), 55 ± 10 % RH and photo phase 16:8 (D: L) h and Sitoteroga cerealella (Olivier) (Lep.: Pyralidae) eggs were used as host. Temperature affected significantly the number of eggs parasitized by the adult parasitoid. The highest rate of parasitism, emergence rate and sex ratio were 50.80±4.6, 0.78% and 0.51%, respectively; at 25°C. Wasps had the highest life duration (22.67days) at 20°C. T. brassicae had the highest R0 =27.23±2.26 (F = 13.80, df= 5 and P 0.0001) and rm =0.27±0.22 (F = 7.36, df= 5, and P 0.0001), at 25°C. Other parameters in this temperature were (χ=1.31± 0.02, T= 11.56± 0.17(day) and DT= 2.49 ± 0.43(day). These parameters had significant difference with other same parameters in other temperatures. It showed that the best temperature condition for T. brassicae was at 25°C that attends to it to improved argumentation biological control.