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Incidence of Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and its natural enemies on smallholder crops in Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

H. van den Berg ,
M. J. W. Cock ,
G. I. Oduor  and
E. K. Onsongo
H. van den Berg
Affiliation:
International Institute of Biological Control, (an institute of CAB International), Kenya Station, Nairobi, Kenya
M. J. W. Cock*
Affiliation:
International Institute of Biological Control, (an institute of CAB International), Kenya Station, Nairobi, Kenya
G. I. Oduor
Affiliation:
Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya
E. K. Onsongo
Affiliation:
Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya
*
International Institute of Biological Control, Silwood Park, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, Berks SL5 7TA, UK.
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Abstract

Smallholder crops (sunflower, maize, sorghum and cotton) were grown in experimental plots at seven sites, representing different agricultural zones of Kenya, over four seasons. Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (formerly Heliothis armigera) only occasionally achieved population densities sufficient to cause obvious damage to the crops, and was virtually absent from the coastal sites. At the inland sites, infestation and mortality levels varied greatly. Information is presented on the incidence of H. armigera, and the identity, distribution and frequency of its common parasitoids and (potential) predators, sampled in the experimental plots. Trichogrammatoidea spp., egg parasitoids, and Linnaemya longirostris (Macquart), a tachinid late-larval parasitoid, were the most common parasitoid species, but total percentage parasitism was rather low. Of the large complex of predators, only anthocorids and ants (predominantly Pheidole spp., Myrmicaria spp. and Camponotus spp.) were sufficiently common and widespread to be of importance in suppressing H. armigera. The abundance of predators fluctuated widely between sites, but anthocorids were most abundant at the western sites.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 83 , Issue 3 , September 1993 , pp. 321 - 328
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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