Controlling Pests by Egg Parasitoid Insects and Their Production

Egg parasitoids have been used successfully as inundative or augmentative biological control agents against a wide range of agricultural pests; Trichogramma and other egg parasitoids are currently the most widely produced and applied natural enemies over the world. Trichogramma evanescens as well as many species have also been deeply researched in different crops; maize, cotton, rice and sugarcane and vegetables like tomato, cabbage, pepper and potato as well as fruit orchards; apple, olive, pomegranate and grape as well as for controlling the forest and stored product insect pests. Trichogramma species have a short generation time and can be easily mass-produced and they could kill the Lepidopteran pests during the egg stage. The endogenous species is selected for release on the environmental basis that it is better adapted to the proposed climate and habitat than those are exotic parasitoids. Efficiency of the parasitoids is depended on the factitious hosts which reared on; Sitotroga cerealella, Ephestia kuehniella and Corcyra cephalonica.