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Title: QUALITY ASSURANCE IN TRANSIT AND THE RELEASE OF THE PARASITOID PHYMASTICHUS COFFEA (HYMENOPTERA: EULOPHIDAE) IN SEVERAL COFFEE PRODUCING COUNTRIES

Author
item PORTILLA, MARIBEL - MISS STATE UNIVERSITY
item Streett, Douglas

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/19/2003
Publication Date: 12/19/2003
Citation: Portilla, M., Streett, D.A. Quality assurance in transit and the release of the parasitoid phymastichus coffea (hymenoptera: eulophidae) in several coffee producing countries. Meeting Abstract.

Interpretive Summary: no summary.

Technical Abstract: The coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari) is a major pest of coffee in many coffee-producing countries. Augmentative biological control may provide a viable alternative to chemical pesticides for controlling this pest. A colony of the parasitoid, Phymastichus coffea (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) was established at the Biological Control and Mass Rearing Research Unit (BCMRRU) with material provided by Cenicafé, Columbia. A mass rearing system for this parasitoid was developed at BCMRRU, and the parasitoid has been reared for more than twenty generations. More than five hundred thousand parasitoids have been shipped to several coffee producing countries in Central and South America, and Africa for colony establishment and field release. Effects of shipping on contamination, fecundity, and emergence were evaluated and improvements were made in the techniques for releasing the parasitoids.