%O Funding for this research was provided
by the United States Agency for International Development
under Cooperative Agreement No. AID-OAA-A-13-00047 with
the Kansas State University Feed the Future Collaborative
Research on Sorghum and Millet Innovation Lab (SMIL). The
project was implemented by ICRISAT and partner institutions
(University Dan Dicko Dankoulo of Maradi, Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University) as part of the
CGIAR research Program on Dryland Cereals. The authors are
thankful to Dr. Jaspreet Sidhu for her assistance in early stage of
statistical analysis and to Nassirou Saidou, Laouali Karimoune,
Mayaki Gaya, Souleymane Mamane, for their contribution in
data collection. The authors are also grateful to farmers who
graciously allow collecting data in their millet fields.
%K Parasitism, Pearl millet, growing stage, Corcyra cephalonica, Niger, Sahel, Pearl millet
%A L Amadou
%A M N Ba
%A I Baoua
%A R Muniappan
%I Springer
%L icrisat11254
%J BioControl (TSI)
%P 1-9
%R 10.1007/s10526-019-09960-2
%D 2019
%X Heliocheilus albipunctella de Joannis (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is one of the major insect pests of pearl millet in the Sahel. The native parasitoid, Habrobracon hebetor Say (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), is currently being promoted for augmentative biological control of the pest in the Sahel. The current study was carried out to identify the right time for releases of the parasitoid using either pearl millet growing stage, or pest occurrence as reference, and to determine the optimal number of parasitoids needed to cover a given area. Our results indicate that release of parasitoids at the panicle emergence stage or six weeks after first sight of eggs of H. albipunctella lead to highest parasitism of H. albipunctella larvae by H. hebetor. The dose of 800 parasitoids for a distance of 3 km radius was enough for controlling H. albipunctella. The implications of the results are discussed toward cost effective and practical recommendation adapted to the Sahelian conditions.
%T Timing of releases of the parasitoid Habrobracon hebetor and numbers needed in augmentative biological control against the millet head miner Heliocheilus albipunctella