Resumen

BERTORELLI, María V  y  RENGIFO, Rosaura. Mass production of Trichogramma spp., in Anzoátegui, Venezuela and its importance as alternative ecological in pest control. Agronomía Trop. [online]. 2008, vol.58, n.1, pp.21-26. ISSN 0002-192X.

In the rearing of Trichogramma in INIA-Anzoátegui is used the host Sitotroga cerealella. The life cycle of this insect is variable and is influenced by the environmental conditions that it is developed. The rearing method is based on the use of material cabinets with a wood skeleton, and baskets located vertically. The substrate used for the host feeding is sorghum with is located in the baskets (3 kg/per each one) for a total of 9 baskets per cabinet. The cabinets are infested with the moth eggs that after emerged start to eat the sorghum grain. Once accomplished its development they fall in the plastic jar situated in the cabinet funnel. The pots are collected, labeled, and go to a process of daily sieving with the help of an air extractor with the purpose to obtain the eggs of the insect. Part of this eggs are set aside for start new colonies of the moth and rest are glued to a 25 pulg 2 card in order to be stored for selling. Once the Sitotroga eggs are glued to the cards they are placed in the pots with already emerged adults in a 1:4 relation. Later the parasited cards are located in a table in order to eliminate the larvae of the non-parasited eggs. The optimal production cycle obtained in INIA-Anzoátegui between April and June of 2007 was based on temperature averages with values that where between 26,4 y 26,7 oC and between 61,2 and 70,4% of relative humidity. In the case of Trichogramma production, the daily average in grams of Sitotroga eggs per cabinet was between 1,3 and 5,5 g and the higher quantity of parasitables eggs (164,2) was obtained in June. Trichogramma production for the first cycle was 148,56 (1475 pulg2) of the product with 950 were liberated in the field,

Palabras clave : Massive rearing; Trichogramma; productiion; Anzoátegui; parasitoid.