LAUSR

Three parasitoid species viz. Aphelinus asychis Walker (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae), Aphidius ervi (Haliday) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and Diaeretiella rapae (McIntosh) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) parasitizing the aphid species Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in mid-hills of north India were studied. At different locations and times of the year, the parasitization by A. asychis, A. ervi, and D. rapae ranged from 7.53 to 37.58, 4.26 to 80.45, and 74.25 to 80.48%, respectively. All the 3 parasitoids successfully completed their development on different nymphal instars of the aphid host and the total developmental duration of A. asychis, A. ervi, and D. rapae ranged 10.4–14.6, 24.2–29.6, and 10.2–15.2 days, respectively. It was significantly longer on the 1st nymphal instar of the host. The longevity of the female parasitoids was significantly longer than their counterparts. Differences in host age significantly influenced the longevity of female parasitoids and it was more on 1 to 2-day-old nymphs than that on 4 to 5-day-old nymphs. Fecundity and ovipositional periods of the parasitoids on younger (1–2 days old) host age group were considerably prolonged than on the older ages of the aphid. Average total fecundity of A. asychis and D. rapae was significantly higher when parasitizing 1–2-day-old nymphs. In A. asychis, host feeding behavior was also observed by a total host feeding of 89.2 aphids (1–2 days old) and 43.4 aphids (4–5 days old) during its life span. It is concluded that A. asychis, A. ervi, and D. rapae can be mass reared using M. persicae as host and can be utilized successfully in augmentative biological control program.