Biological Characteristics and Thermal Requirements of Telenomus podisi and Trissolcus basalis (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) in Fresh and Cryopreserved Eggs of Euschistus heros and Nezara viridula (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)

Abstract

Brazil is one of the largest producers of pulses globally, and soybean ranks highly in terms of production. However, pests increase crop production costs and affect oilseed production and quality. Pests are primarily controlled by chemicals, leading to changes in insect pest populations. For example, secondary pests can become primary pests because of the selection of resistant insects and the elimination of natural enemies. Farmers have widely accepted biological control because of its high control efficacy and low environmental contamination risk. Two successful biological control programs in soybean used Telenomus podisi Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) to manage the Neotropical brown stink bug, Euschistus heros (Fabricius) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), and Trissolcus basalis (Wollaston, 1858) (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) to manage the southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (Linnaeus) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), when these pests were the most abundant in soybean-producing regions. To release parasitoids, rearing protocols must be developed in order to optimize production. This study evaluated the effect of temperature on the biological characteristics of T. podisi and T. basalis when fresh or frozen E. heros eggs were provided. Fifty fresh or previously frozen eggs were placed with parasitoids for 24 h in a climate chamber (25 ± 1 °C, 70 ± 10% RH, and 14-h photophase). At the end of this period, the eggs were transferred to other chambers and maintained at different temperatures (19, 22, 25, 28, 31, and 34 ± 1 °C, 70 ± 10% RH, with a 14-h photoperiod). The number of emerging adults from eggs parasitized by T. basalis was lower than that from eggs parasitized by T. podisi. Differences in T. basalis and T. podisi parasitism were observed depending on whether the E. heros eggs were frozen or fresh, but neither development nor emergence were affected. The duration of egg–adult development and the longevity of the two parasitoids were inversely proportional to the temperature increase. The sex ratio of T. basalis and T. podisi progeny was not affected by different temperatures or by the use of frozen or fresh eggs. The estimated number of both parasitoids’ generations corresponded with temperature, reaching 14–15 generations/cycle of soybean for Rio Verde, GO, and 12–14 generations/cycle for Barreiras, BA. Given these characteristics, we conclude that a biological control program using T. podisi can benefit large areas of soybean production by controlling the eggs of phytophagous bugs in soybean crops.

Optimizing the Release Pattern of Telenomus podisi for Effective Biological Control of Euschistus heros in Soybean

“…The use of cryopreserved eggs as sentinels in our experiments may have influenced the relatively low parasitism rates observed [ 31 ]. Although E. heros cryopreserved eggs are suitable for T. podisi laboratory mass rearing [ 8 , 9 , 32 ], the use of frozen eggs can slightly reduce the parasitism rate (%) by T. podisi [ 7 ]. Additionally, the use of poles with attached cryopreserved eggs did not present the same chemical compounds emitted by soybean plants during stink bug feeding prior to mating and oviposition [ 33 ].…”

“…Bueno et al [ 2 ] reported a 70% parasitism rate in soybean fields after T. podisi release; however, this was after three parasitoid releases and over a period of 27 days. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the reproductive potential and the parasitoid’s ability to locate hosts at different soybean stages under field conditions [ 7 ].…”

“…One of the most-studied egg parasitoids, Telenomus podisi Ashmead, 1893 (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae), is recognized as an effective natural enemy for the key stink bug pests that attack soybean crops [3]. Following the commercial release of T. podisi Insects 2024, 15, 192 2 of 12 in 2019 in Brazil [4], more robust programs and studies have been conducted to improve the use of this biological control agent in combatting stink bug pests of soybeans [5][6][7][8].…”