Influence of corn earworm diets on levels of tachinid parasitism

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

3:18 PM – 3:30 PM PT

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 208/209

Presenting Author(s)

Armando Falcon-Brindis (he/him/his)

Research Associate
University of Kentucky
Eddyville, Kentucky

Co-Author(s)

John O. Stireman

Professor
Wright State University
Dayton, Ohio
ZV

Zenaida Viloria

Research Analyst
University of Kentucky
Princeton, Kentucky
RV

Raul T. Villanueva

Assistant Professor
University of Kentucky
Princeton, Kentucky

Hemp crop has received scarce attention and poor research has been conducted regarding insect pest management. The corn earworm (CEW) Helicoverpa zea is probably one of the major pests in field grown hemp throughout the U.S. Here we quantify the interactions of tachinid parasitoids attacking H. zea larvae in hemp grown outdoors in western Kentucky. We hypothesized that the food supplied to CEW larvae (hemp VS artificial diet) affects the performance of tachinid flies in terms of survival and number of individuals per host larva. Moreover, other factors such as the number of fly eggs per host and caterpillar size are considered. Our findings reveal new insights to assess future tritrophic interactions in hemp systems.