EVALUATION OF THE BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENT (TRICHOGRAMMA CHILONIS) AGAINST THE STALK BORER (CHILO AURICILIUS) IN .SUGARCANE CROPS

摘要

In subtropical India, the stalk borer, Chilo auricilius (Dudgeon) is the most destructive pest of the sugarcane crop. Its young larvae bore into shoots and canes by cutting holes and forming galleries in the stalk. A single infested cane may harbour up to 15 larvae which may cause damage over several sugarcane internodes. Damaged canes may dry up completely causing substantial losses in yield and quality (1). No suitable chemical control for C. auricilius is available due to the nature of its damagein sugarcane. Insecticides were shown to be more hazardous to natural borer parasites than against the stalk borer. Biological control, an environmentally friendly approach may help provide some potential for control. Recently, the parasite Trichogrammachilonis (Ishii) has been reported to suppress C. auricilius activity (3). The following trial was designed to investigate the efficiency of this parasitoid under the agroecoiogical conditions in Haryana state, India.