Integrated soil fertility management: from concept to practice in Eastern DR Congo

Publication Type

Journal Article

Journal Name

Biocontrol Science and Technology

Publication Date

5-5-2008

Abstract

The relative importance of the braconid Cotesia sesamiae, a gregarious larval parasitoid of lepidopteran stemborers, varies greatly with region in Africa; while the most common parasitoid of noctuid stemborers in eastern Africa, it is rare in western Africa. Thus, several strains of C. sesamiae from Kenya are envisaged for introduction into western Africa. The present study investigates the reproductive compatibility between four populations of C. sesamiae from West Africa and Kenya with the noctuid Sesamia calamistis as the host using reciprocal crosses as well as backcrosses of hybrid females with males of the parental populations. Searching time of the male for the female and mating period varied significantly with couple and ranged between 0.78-1.9 min and 3.4-12.8 s, respectively. Crosses that involved females from inland Kenya (KI) did not yield any female offspring. However, backcrosses of hybrid female bearing a KI male genome with a KI male yielded both female and male offspring. Thus, there was a partial reproductive incompatibility between KI and West African populations which suggested that the latter were infected with Wolbachia sp. However, this should not affect the efficacy of a population introduced from East into West Africa, as there is a high degree of sib-mating in this gregarious parasitoid species. It was concluded that the regional differences in the relative importance of C. sesamiae was due to differences in the insect and plant host range of the different populations. © 2008 Taylor & Francis.

Keywords

Reproductive compatibility, Sesamia calamistis, West African and Kenyan Cotesia sesamiae population

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