THE PREFERENCE OF PARASITOID Telenomus remus ON Spodoptera litura EGGS AS AN ALTERNATIVE HOST IN ITS PROPAGATION

Abstract

. Spodoptera frugiperda is an invasive pest which caused plant shoots damage on corn plants. Some control techniques have been applied to control this insect, but the population growth and development of this pest was massively spread in Indonesia. One of the effective indigenous natural enemies to control S. frugiperda was Telenomus remus. Parasitoid T. remus could naturally parasitized the egg of S. frugiperda at about 85%, thus this parasitoid was potential to be used as a biological agent. The rearing method of parasitoid T. remus still relies on the use of native host, S. frugiperda, but the larvae of S. frugiperda was cannibalism. Regarding of this insect behaviour, it should be considered to use this insect as a rearing host, thus the alternative host was needed. One of the alternative hosts is Spodoptera litura. This research aimed to test the suitability of S. litura eggs as an alternative host of T. remus. The research conducted by test the parasitization level of T. remus on various aged of S. litura eggs (1, 2, and 3 days aged) and 1-aged day eggs of S. frugiperda as the control. Every treatment was repeated seven times. Data were analysed by calculating the level of parasitization of T. remus on S. litura and S. frugiperda eggs. Results showed that the three ages of S. litura eggs were not parasitized by T. remus, while 50% of S. frugiperda eggs were parasitized