Egg parasitoid, Trichogramma chilonis (Ishii) production point of view, it is important to use younger adult parasitoids (12-24 h) age and fresh Angoumois grain moth, Sitotroga cerealella (Oliv.) eggs (12-24 h) age on green colour paper cards to get maximum parasitism for 24 hours of exposure time.
Radiation dose (10-20 Gy) is very conducive for maximum parasitism, egg hatching, adult emergence and incubation period (8-9 days) of Sitotroga eggs to get short term storage (3-5 days).
Low storage temperatures (4°C) are also very effective for maximum parasitism as well as prolong the incubation period of Sitotroga eggs.
Radiation dose (5 Gy) and low storage temperature (2°C) for 3 days were found suitable for maximum adult emergence (83-85%) & longevity (7.3 days) of Trichogramma pupae.
Oat and maize proved to be the most preferred food and best alternatives to wheat for mass rearing of Sitotroga in the laboratory.
In high tunnel okra & tomato plots (40-48 m2) treated with Trichogramma wasp (1500-2000 nos.) were found less infested by fruit worm, H. armigera upto 0.35-0.41/plant.
Maximum parasitism of Angoumois grain moth, Sitotroga cerealella (Oliv.) eggs by Trichogramma wasps were recorded upto (33-43%) at a distance of 2-4 feet whereas minimum parasitism (7-22%) at a distance of 6-10 feet in tomato pots in glasshouse.
Maximum moths of fruit worm, H. armigera were recorded in pheromone traps in April i.e., 20.5/trap followed by March (6.8), September (4.5), July (3.9), May (2.5), November (2.0), June (1.8), October (1.3), August (0.5) and no moth were found from December to February.
Trichogramma wasps (3000 nos.) & Beauvaria bassiana 1x108 spores’ ml-1 was very effective for the control of tomato fruit worm in field conditions.
Entomo-pathogenic fungi (Beauveria bassiana & Metarhizium anisopliae) @ 1x108 spores’ ml-1 were found very effective for the control of tomato fruit worm in Lab. conditions.
Chickpea flour base artificial diet was found very effective for the rearing of tomato fruit worm, H. armigera.
