Insecticides, Toxicity, Dry Film Technique, Bioassay, Aenasius bambawalei, Aenasius advena.
Abstract
Safety of selected insecticides to mealybug parasitoids, Aenasius bambawalei Hayat and A. advena Compere (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) was evaluated using dry film method at 1, 3, 6, 12, 18 and 24h after treatment (HAT). Results showed that endosulfan, monocrotophos, profenofos and dimethoate caused 100% mortality within 1h in both A. bambawalei and A. advena, which was significantly higher than untreated check. Imidacloprid was comparatively safer and caused 100% mortality of both the sexes of the parasitoids after 3h. However, nimbecidine caused 100% mortality only after 24h indicating that it is the safest of all the insecticides tested for both the parasitoids and hence might be the first choice for mealybug management when parasitoid activity is noticed to give a cumulative effect.