Effect of selected baculoviruses on oviposition preference by Trichogramma chilonis (Trichogrammatidae: Hymenoptera)

Microbial insecticides are effective, environmental friendly and are widely used worldwide to control insect pests. Nucleopolyhedroviruses and granuloviruses belonging to family Baculoviridae are widely used for control of caterpillar pests on wide varieties of crops and vegetables. The selected baculoviruses (BVs) were evaluated for oviposition preference by Trichogramma chilonis (Ishii) of virus treated and untreated (water: control) host eggs (Sitotroga cerealella Olivier), which revealed no significant difference among the used concentrations regarding oviposition preference. All the used concentrations of Helicoverpa armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus (HaNPV), Spodoptera exigua nucleopolyhedrovirus (SeMNPV) and Cydia pomonella granulovirus (CpGV) including 12.5×, 6.25×, 2.5×, 1.25× and 0.625× were harmless (E > 30%) for parasitism by T. chilonis as comparison of virus treated and untreated control eggs showed similar parasitism i.e., ⩽15% reduction over control in parasitism. Thus it was concluded that all three types of baculoviruses were compatible with the parasitism by T. chilonis at all treated concentrations.