Impact of egg mass layers and scale thicknesses of the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), on the parasitic performance of Trichogrammatoidea bactrae (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae)

Abstract Background Fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is one of the new alien destructive pests of maize and other 350 economic crops. The majority of farmers are still depended upon chemical insecticides to suppress the pest, but S. frugiperda has succeeded to develop resistance against most of the chemical families. Improving an effective environmentally-friendly approach is highly recommended. Therefore, the egg parasitoids are the best weapon for managing the FAW in the early egg stage due to the feeding behavior of their larvae. In this regard, the impact of FAW egg mass layers and scale thicknesses, as physical barriers, on the parasitic performance of the egg-parasitoid species, Trichogrammatoidea bactrae Nagaraja (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae), in non-choice and choice tests was assessed. Besides, the efficacy of FAW-produced adult wasps on the next generation based on the rates of parasitism, adults' emergence, and female progeny was determined. Results Obtained results exhibited that T. bactrae was able to parasitize all exposed FAW egg masses but with different rates related to the layers’ number and scales' thicknesses in both tests. One-layer (83.18, 78.24%) and two-layer egg masses (65.99, 76.42%) had significantly the highest parasitism rate, while three layers (42.15, 46.05%) was the least one, in both tests, respectively. All parasitoids emerged after 10–12 days with high rates (~ 88–98%) from all the tested egg masses, and the majority offspring were female-biased in both tests. Furthermore, parasitic performance in F1 progeny was similar with that recorded in parental generation in terms of parasitism rate, high parasitoid emergency (~ 87–95%), and strongly female-biased (~ 68–76%) in all the exposed egg masses. Conclusions The egg parasitoid, T. bactrae, could be an efficient and recommended bio-control agent against FAW as its greatest ability to overcome the layers’ number and scales’ thickness.