Egg parasitoids in legume crops ecosystem

Abstract

In India, legume crops as targets for biocontrol include pigeon pea, chickpea, pea, black gram, groundnut, soybean and lucerne. The egg parasitoids occurring in or used for biocontrol in legume crop ecosystem in India are mainly Scelionids (Telenomus sp.) and Trichogrammatids (Trichogramma, 14 species; Trichogrammatoidea, 7 species), besides the braconoid egg-larval parasitoid (Chelonus, 6 species). Extensive studies on host plant attributes have shown that in both pigeon pea and chickpea, trichogrammatid egg parasitoids are not likely to perform satisfactorily for control of H. armigera. Pigeon pea pod bugs (Clavigralla) are subject to substantial natural egg parasitisation by Gryon spp. In groundnut, for Spodoptera litura, T. chilonis appears to offer effective control under inundative release. The future research thrust aspects include focused survey to capture native biodiversity of egg parasitoids in representative agro-climatic regions, besides improving their mass production and release systems, also identifying ecology based favourable components for integration.