Growth and Development of Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton) on Natural and fortified Diets and Dietary Effect of Age-Old Eggs on Parasitization by Trichogramma chilonis Ishii

Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton) is a laboratory host for mass production of Trichogramma spp. and other biocontrol agents. In the present study for rearing Corcyra, three diets were used as broken maize alone, broken maize + yeast (2%) and broken maize + protinex (2%). Maize + yeast combination gave the best results in terms of mean total adults emergence (2211), mean total females (985), mean fecundity (397.85) and mean duration of moths emergence (52.31 days), while average developmental period was lowest (36 days) when compared with other two diets. The effect of egg laying on parasitization by T. chilonis revealed that highest mean per cent parasitization of 51.96 (mean of 1^st to 6^th day laying) was obtained on eggs laid by moths reared on maize + yeast diet. The highest mean per cent parasitization (73.9) was obtained on 2^nd day egg laying.