Bioativity of <em>Agave sisalana</em> Perrine Ex Engelm (Asparagaceae) Aqueous Residual Extract on <em>Diachasmimorpha longicaudata</em> (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

Abstract

The parasitoid Diachasmimorpha longicaudata is an important fruit fly control agent, being responsable for the pest population reduction in the field and, therefore, insecticide mitigation. The control based on natural products, as the aqueous extract produced from Agave sisalana dried residue, are candidates to be integrated to fruit flies management. However, little is known about the influence of such extracts on natural enemies. Thus, this investigation evaluated the influence of the extract from A. sisalana dried residue on D. longicaudata. The experiement was carried out following a randomized block design. For each repetition, it was used 24 guava fruits (Psidium guajava L.), all previously infested by Ceratitis capitata. The fruits were treated with the 5% extract (12 fruits). Additionally, 12 fruits treated only with water were considered the control set. All the fruits were offered in a cage for three hours, period when it was observed and quantified the number of female parasitoid visits on them. This experiment was repeated for 5 days. The quantification and sex separation of emerged parasitoid adults were made 14 days after offering the fruits. To the data analysis, as the total number of parasitoids and number of its females, it was applied the General Linear Model with Poisson distribution. There was no difference between the treatments about the number of emerged parasitoids. However, the mean of visits on the fruits differed between the tretaments, showing 3.8 to control and 2.6 to the extract treatment, suggesting a toxic effect in the last one.