Development Of A Commercial Assessment To Detect Parasitoids Of The Potato Moth
Potato moth is a serious pest of potatoes and other solanaceous crops in Australia. Several species of biological control agents exist nationally and with cultural control measures, these form the basis of IPM strategies. The potato moth can be monitored easily using pheromone traps or other crop monitoring techniques. Conventional means of monitoring parasitoids involving rearing larvae to adult stages: a process which is too time-consuming to be of practical use to growers in daily decision making. This project developed a rapid test that can help growers detect the presence (or absence) of each of the three common parasitoid wasps, orgilus lepidus, Apanteles subandinus, and Copidosoma koehleri.