Abstract:
The African bollworm, H elicoverpa arm igera, is a major pest o f several vegetable crops,
especially tomato, besides associated crops like legumes and cotton in Eastern Africa. The
present initiative seeks to improve the utilization o f native egg parasitoids, especially
Trichogrammatids, in augmentative biocontrol o f this pest in the region in partnership
with the national biocontrol teams o f Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Onfarm
surveys backed up by onstation multi-crop plots have been undertaken for assembling and
characterizing the inter- and intra-species diversity o f the native Trichogrammatids among
major target crops especially tomatoes, across representative production ecologies. The
survey collections are being kept as representative live cultures in regional genebank and
are. being tested for adaptation to temperature regimes and humidity ranges. Monitoring of
H. arm igera adults by pheromone traps and assessing the egg numbers on tomato are in
progress at benchmark locations. Refinements in field methodology for assessment
Trichogramma release impact are being pursued. The potential demand for Trichogramma
as biocontrol product has been assessed as positive and potential delivery systems / agents
identified in Kenya. It is visualized that the well adapted native Trichogrammatid
species/strains would be chosen for the major production ecologies in the partner countries
and that pilot scale mass production undertaken so to promote wide-scale awareness and
adoption o f this promising biocontrol technology in the region.
Introduction
