Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T19:04:43.180Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Natural enemies of the maize cob borer, Mussidia nigrivenella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in Benin, West Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

M. Sétamou ,
F. Schulthess ,
G. Goergen ,
H.-M. Poehling  and
C. Borgemeister
M. Sétamou
Affiliation:
Texas A&M University, Agricultural Research and Extension Centre, 2415 East Highway 83, Weslaco, TX 78596-8399, USA Plant Health Management Division, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, 08 BP 932 Tri Postal, Cotonou, Republic of Benin
F. Schulthess
Affiliation:
Plant Health Management Division, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, 08 BP 932 Tri Postal, Cotonou, Republic of Benin
G. Goergen
Affiliation:
Plant Health Management Division, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, 08 BP 932 Tri Postal, Cotonou, Republic of Benin
H.-M. Poehling
Affiliation:
Institute of Plant Diseases and Plant Protection, University of Hannover, Herrenhäuser Str. 2, 30419 Hannover, Germany
C. Borgemeister*
Affiliation:
Institute of Plant Diseases and Plant Protection, University of Hannover, Herrenhäuser Str. 2, 30419 Hannover, Germany
*
*Fax: +49 511 7623015 E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Mussidia nigrivenella Ragonot is a pest of maize cobs in West Africa. It significantly reduces maize yields and grain quality, with quantitative losses of 2–25% at harvest, and up to 10–15% indirect losses due to an increase in storage pest infestation levels. Infestation by M. nigrivenella also significantly increased the susceptibility of maize to Aspergillus flavus infection and subsequent aflatoxin contamination. Surveys conducted in different agro-ecological zones of Benin on cultivated and wild host plants during 1994–1997 revealed one egg parasitoid, three larval parasitoids and one pupal parasitoid attacking M. nigrivenella. Egg parasitism was scarce on all host plants sampled and in all four agro-ecological zones. Parasitism by larval and pupal parasitoids was usually less than 10%, and varied with host plant species. Both larval and pupal parasitoids were rare or absent in cultivated maize fields. The solitary chalcidid pupal parasitoid, Antrocephalus crassipes Masi, was the predominant species, contributing approximately 53% of the observed mortality. Logistic regression analysis indicated that this parasitoid was more prevalent on fruits of Gardenia spp. (Rubiaceae) than on the other host plant species including maize used by M. nigrivenella, and was most abundant between February and September. The differences in parasitoid diversity and parasitism between Benin and other regions suggest that there are opportunities for biological control through introduction of exotic parasitoids or using the ‘new association’ approach, which uses natural enemies of closely related host species that occupy similar ecological niches to the target pest.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 92 , Issue 4 , August 2002 , pp. 343 - 349
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benerey, B., Denno, R.F. & Kaiser, L. (1997) The influence of plant species on attraction and host acceptance in Cotesia glomerata (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). In Journal of Insect Behaviour 10, 619–630.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bosque-Pérez, N.A. & Mareck, J.H. (1990) Distribution and species composition of lepidopterous maize borers in southern Nigeria. Bulletin of Entomological Research 80, 363–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bouyckx, E.J.E. (1962) In Précis des maladies et des insectes nuisibles rencontrés sur les plantes cultivées au Congo, au Rwanda et au Burundi. 708 pp. INEAC.Google Scholar
Conlong, D.E. (1990) A study of pest–parasitoid relationship in natural habitats: an aid toward the biological control of Eldana saccharina (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). Proceedings of the South African Sugar Technology Association 64, 111–115.Google Scholar
Conlong, D.E. (1994) Host parasitoid interactions of Eldana saccharina. In (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) inbt. Cyperus papyrus. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Natal: Republic of South Africa.Google Scholar
Conlong, D.E. (1997) Biological control of Eldana saccharina Walker in South African sugarcane: constraints identified from 15 years of research. Insect Science and its Application 17, 69–78.Google Scholar
Ehler, L.E. (1979) Utility of facultative secondary parasites in biological control. Environmental Entomology 8, 829–832.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Entwistle, P.F. (1972) In Pests of cocoa. 779 pp. Longman.Google Scholar
Gounou, S., Schulthess, F., Shanower, T., Hammond, W.H.O., Braima, J., Cudjoe, A.R., Adjakloe, R., Antwi, K.K. & Olaleye, I. (1994) Stem and ear borers of maize in Ghana. Plant Health Management Research Monograph 4, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria.Google Scholar
Hare, J.D. & Luck, R.F. (1991) Indirect effects of citrus cultivars on life history parameters of a parasitic wasp. Ecology 72, 1576–1585.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hokkanen, H.M.T. & Pimentel, D. (1989) New association approach in biological control: theory and practice. Canadian Entomologist 121, 829–840.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hosmer, D.W. & Lemeshow, S. (1989) In Applied logistic regression 2nd edn. 392 pp. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Janse, A.J.T. (1941) Contribution to the study of the Phycitinae (Pyralidae: Lepidoptera) part 1. Journal of the Entomological Society of South Afric 4, 134–166.Google Scholar
Janz, N. & Nylin, S. (1997) The role of female search behaviour in determining host plant range in plant feeding insects: a test of the information processing hypothesis. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 264, 701–707.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karowe, D.N. & Schoonhoven, L.M. (1992) Interactions between three trophic levels: the influence of host plant on performance of Pieris brassicae and its parasitoid, Cotesia glomerata. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 62, 241–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LePelley, R.H. (1959) In Agricultural insects of East Africa. 307 pp. East Africa High Commission, Nairobi: Kenya.Google Scholar
Mohyuddin, A.I. & Greathead, D.J. (1970) An annotated list of the parasites of graminaceous stemborers in east Africa, with a discussion of their potential in biological control. Entomophaga 15, 241–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moyal, P. (1988) In Les foreurs du maqs en zone des savanes en Côte d'Ivoire. 367 pp. Collection Etudes et Thèses, Editions de l'ORSTOM: Paris.Google Scholar
Moyal, P. & Tran, M. (1991) Cob borer Mussidia nigrivenella (Lepidoptera; Pyralidae) of maize in Ivory Coast. II – Ecological data. Insect Science and its Application 12, 215–223.Google Scholar
Ndemah, R., Schulthess, F., Poehling, H.-M. & Borgemeister, C. (2001) Natural enemies of lepidopterous borers on maize and elephant grass in the forest zone of Cameroon with special reference to Busseola fusca (Fuller) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Bulletin of Entomological Research 91, 205–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nonveiller, G. (1984) In Catalogue des insectes au Cameroun d'intérêt agricole. 210 pp. Institut pour la Protection des Plantes, Mémoires XV: Beograd.Google Scholar
Polaszek, A. (1998) In African cereal stemborers; economic importance, taxonomy, natural enemies and control. 530 pp. CAB International in association with the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation, CTA, Ede: The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Rao, V.P. (1965) Natural enemies of rice stem-borers and allied species in various parts of the world and possibilities of their use in biological control of rice stem-borers in Asia. Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control Technical Bulletin 6, 1–68.Google Scholar
SAS, Institute. (1996) In SAS user's guide, statistics. SAS Institute, Cary: North Carolina.Google Scholar
Schulthess, F., Bosque-Perez, N.A., Chabi-Olaye, A., Gounou, S., Ndemah, R. & Goergen, G. (1997) Exchange of natural enemies of lepidopteran cereal stemborers between African regions. In Insect Science and its Application 17. pp. 97–108.Google Scholar
Sétamou, M. (1996) Ecology of the insect pests of maize with special reference to Mussidia nigrivenella. In (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) and the interaction with the aflatoxin producing fungus. Aspergillus flavus. MSc thesis, University of Cape Coast: Ghana.Google Scholar
Sétamou, M. & Schulthess, F. (1995) The influence of egg parasitoids belonging to the Telenomus busseolae (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) species complex on Sesamia calamistis (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) populations in maize fields in Southern Benin. In Biocontrol, Science and Technology 5, 69–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sétamou, M., Schulthess, F., Bosque-Pérez, N.A. & Thomas-Odjo, A. (1995) The effect of stem and ear borers on maize subjected to different nitrogen treatments. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 77, 205–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sétamou, M., Cardwell, K.F., Schulthess, F. & Hell, K. (1998) Effect of insect damage to maize ears, with special reference to the earborer Mussidia nigrivenella, on Aspergillus flavus infection and aflatoxin production in pre-harvest maize in the Republic of Benin. Journal of Economic Entomology 91, 433–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sétamou, M., Schulthess, F., Poehling, H.-M. & Borgemeister, C. (1999) Effects of different host plants on the bionomics of Mussidia nigrivenella Ragonot (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). Bulletin of Entomological Research 89, 465–471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sétamou, M., Schulthess, F., Poehling, H.-M. & Borgemeister, C. (2000) Monitoring and modeling of field infestation and damage by the maize ear borer Mussidia nigrivenella Ragonot (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in Benin, West Africa. Journal of Economic Entomology 93, 650–657.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sétamou, M., Schulthess, F., Poehling, H.-M. & Borgemeister, C. (2000) Host plants and population dynamics of the cob borer Mussidia nigrivenella Ragonot (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in Benin. Journal of Environmental Entomology 29, 516–524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shanower, T., Schulthess, F. & Gounou, S. (1991) Distribution and abundance of some stem and cob borers in Benin. Plant Health Management Research Monograph 1, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria.Google Scholar
Silvie, P. (1990) Mussidia nigrivenella Ragonot (Pyralidae, Phycitinae): un ravageur mal connu du cotonnier. Coton et Fibres Tropicales 45, 323–333.Google Scholar
Smith, J.W. Jr., Wiedenmann, R.N. & Overholt, W.A. (1993) In Parasites of lepidopteran stemborers of tropical gramineous plants. 89 pp. Nairobi: ICIPE Science Press.Google Scholar
Sorauer, P. (1925) In Handbuch der Pflanzenkrankheiten. 360 pp. Berlin: Paul Parey Verlag.Google Scholar
Staeubli, A. (1977) Contribution à l'étude de Cryptophlebia leucotreta (Meyrick) particulièrement au Bénin. Coton et Fibres Tropicales 32, 325–349.Google Scholar
Subbiah, K. (1987) A new host record of a hyperparasite Perilampus sp. (Hymenopetera: Perilampidae) on Apanteles aristaeus Nixon. Current Science 56, 794–796.Google Scholar
Taylor, J.S. (1932) Report on cotton insect and disease investigations. Part II. Notes on the American bollworm (Heliothis obsoleta Fabr.) on cotton, and its parasite, Microbracon brevicronis Wesm. Science Bulletin Department of Agriculture, South AfricaNo. 113.Google Scholar
Vinson, S.B. (1981) Habitat location,. pp 51–78. in Nordlund, D.A., Jones, R.L. & Lewis, W.J., (Eds.) Semiochemicals: their role in pest control. New York: J. Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Waiyaki, J.N. (1973) A new moth of cocoa. FAO Plant Protection Bulletin 21, 117–118.Google Scholar
Weseloh, R.M., Wallner, W.E. & Hoy, M.A. (1979) Possible deleterious effects of releasing Anastatus kashmirensis, a facultative hyperparasite of the gypsy moth. Environmental Entomology 8, 174–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitney, W.K. (1970) Observations on maize insects at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Ibadan. Bulletin of the Entomological Society of Nigeria 2, 101–108.Google Scholar