Natural enemies need to support in Environment for additional food and refuges. Additional food resources can improve their efficacy. Food resource provision could increase longevity and fecundity of natural enemies. Planting cover crop adjacent to the main crop in one of the methods to provide food resource like nectar and pollen. In current study, the effect of Alyssum on efficacy of T. cacoeciae in laboratory condition, greenhouse and apple orchard were assessed. The result shows an improvement in longevity and parasitism rate of T. cacoeciae feeding on Alyssum and sugar solution comparing to control treatments in laboratory condition (9. 6, 5. 2 and 3. 3 days and 50. 7, 42 and 28 blacked eggs respectively). In greenhouse, longevity and parasitism rate of T. cacoeciae enhanced in Alyssum cages compare with sugar solution and no feed despite the complex structure of Alyssum plant (12. 5, 9. 6 and 7. 8 days and 377. 8, 364. 3, 214. 3 blacked egg respectively). Result in apple orchard using Alyssum pots in apples rows showed a significant difference parasitism in sentinel eggs compare with control (16. 5% and 6. 23 % respectively). The parasitism also recorded for longer time in plots with Alyssum (5 days) in compare with control (one day only). In total Alyssum can provide parasitic wasp, a suitable and available food source and probably considered a suitable cover crop with good quality and accessible to enhance T. cacoeciae efficacy.

A study was carried out to map dispersal of TRICHOGRAMMA brassicae Bezd. on tomato in a 0.5 ha field. First, 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 meter distances from the central point of the field were marked in form of squares. On each square, 8 points were selected and a wooden stake of 1.5 m length was vertically secured into the soil at each point equal to plant height and bearing a yellow sticky trap (YST, 10 x 20 cm) on the top. Moreover, three egg batches each containing ~200 freshSitotroga cerealella Oliv. eggs on cardboards (SEC) were stapled on top leaf of three plants around the wooden stake arranged in a 0.75 m arch. Evaluation was done two days before and 2, 4, 6 and 8 days after a release of 50000 newly emergedT. brassicae (~1: 1 Male: Famale) from the central point. The number of T. brassicae trapped by YST, and number of parasitised eggs on SEC were counted under a stereomicroscope and noted down. The coefficient of fitting YST data to the model (R2) for all 4 sampling dates was as high as 86%. The average diffusion coefficient was equal to 16.89 m2/day for four times sampling. In general, the distance encompassing 98% of trapped T. brassicaepredicted by the model was up to maximum 29.9 m from the central point 8 days after the release. The mean percent parasitism was 44.7, 5.5, 5 and 0.9 per SEC during 2, 4, 6 and 8 days after release, respectively. It is concluded that, the farther the distance from the releasing point and the longer the time elapsed after release, the less number of wasps were recaptured. Therefore, multiple releasing points are required to achieve even distribution and enough population of parasitoids in the field.

Learning ability and memory duration are two inseparable factors which can increase the efficiency of a living organism during its lifetime. Trichgramma brassice Bezdenko (Hym.: TRICHOGRAMMAtidae) is a biological control agent widely used against different pest species. This research was conducted to study the olfactory associative learning ability and memory duration of T. brassicae under laboratory conditions. According to our results, T. brassicae showed olfactory learning ability in response to conditioned odors, and this learned olfactory stimuli lasted for 20 hours. In a second experiment, the effects of frequent experiences on the memory duration of females were studied. A direct relationship between frequent experiences and memory duration was observed. When exposed to a conditioned odor, wasps’ memory duration increased in response to the number of experiences. Memory was observed at 28 h after one extra conditioning. The duration of the associative memory lasted 42 hours when 2 extra experiences were given, 50 hours after 3 experiences, and 58 hours after 4 extra conditioning experiences. Our results showed that T. brassicae can associate new odors to host existence, and they will show increased memory duration after multiple experiences.

Dispersal of TRICHOGRAMMA brassicae Bezd. was studied in 2 rice fields by a single release of 50000 adult wasps from a central point and recapturing them using yellow sticky traps and egg cards of Sitotroga cerealella (Oliv. ) Results revealed that in rice field 1, dispersal coefficients were 3. 04 and 1. 07 m2/day at 1st and 2nd sampling turns. However, it reached to a level of 11. 28 m2/day at 3rd sampling turn. In contrast, T. brassicae dispersed with a speed of 3. 93 m2/day at 1st sampling turn and had the highest dispersal coefficient (29. 76 m2/day) at 3rd sampling turn in rice field 2. Similarly, the distances that encompassed 98% recaptured T. brassicae was highest in field 2 (53. 45 m) compared with that in field 1 (15. 11 m) at 3rd sampling turn. Number of wasps remained in fields 1 and 2 were recorded as 630. 67 and 272. 18 individuals, respectively, for total sampling turns. Moreover, the highest parasitism rates (64. 75 and 91 mean parasitized eggs/card in fields 1 and 2, respectively) were observed at 1 meter distance from release point at first sampling turn and it decreased wi th time and distance elevation. It is concluded that more release points of T. brassicae per rice field is required to achieve universal dispersal in successful rice stem borer biocontrol. It needs innovation in packing and release method of the wasp.

TRICHOGRAMMA ingricum Sorokina, 1984, an egg parasitoid, only known from Russia (St. Petersburg), here is newly recorded from northern Iranian provinces including West and East Azarbaijan and Mazandaran. The localities and hosts are as follows: Tabriz, on eggs of Cydia pomonella (L.); Urmia (Chubtarash, Najafabad-e Gharebagh, Tasmalu, Ghulenji), on eggs of C. pomonella and Lobesia botrana Den & Schiff; Urmia (Mahalanzal, Bakshluchai, Nazluchai, Baranduzchai) on eggs of L. botrana; Amol (Binamad), on eggs of Chilo suppressalis Walker. T. ingricum is superficially similar to T. embryophagum (Hartig), except for darker body color, longer setae on male antenna, distinctive male genitalia and lack of thelytoky in females. This species is common in vineyards of Urmia region where it could be considered as a significant control agent of L. botrana.

Wolbachia is an intracellular endosymbiont, which can induce thelytokous parthenogenesis in TRICHOGRAMMA egg parasitoids with the infected females producing daughters without any mating. With regard to the usual transfer of Wolbachia which is vertical from the mother to her offspring through the cytoplasm of eggs, this manipulation of host’s reproduction can enhance its transmission to future generations. In this study, the intra- and interspecific transfer of this bacterium among TRICHOGRAMMA wasps were investigated using one Iranian infected line of TRICHOGRAMMA brassicae Bezd. (B 11W+) as donor and two Dutch uninfected lines of T. brassicae and TRICHOGRAMMA evanescens West. (Y 175 and GD 011) as recipients. In both cases, horizontal transfer was observed when infected and uninfected parasitoid’s larvae shared the same host egg, Mamestra brassicae (L.). The F1 females from recipient lines were tested for the presence of Wolbachia and to determine their origin through PCR using wsp primers, specific primer of the ITS-2 region as well as TTG 49 microsatellite primer, respectively. On the whole, intraspecific horizontal and subsequent vertical transmissions (%78.8 and %38.5) occurred with significantly more success than interspecific transfer. Because of the advantages of unisexual wasps in biological control programs, the results obtained may be found as very useful in practival applications.

The intracellular symbiont bacterium, Wolbachia is known as a reproductive parasite in different species of TRICHOGRAMMA. Regard to importance of this symbiont in biological control programms, the present study addressed the efficiency of wsp gene to typing this symbiont from some populations of TRICHOGRAMMA and also its prevalence. In this study which conducted through 2009 to 2010, 19 populations of TRICHOGRAMMA were screened for Wolbachia infection.Among these, seven populations were determined as infected by Wolbachia. Eight strains of the bacterium were characterized which six strains belonged to subgroup Kue from A supergroup.The two remained strains were related to B supergroup and Sib subgroup. The double infection and superinfection were observed in TRICHOGRAMMA populations. Among three species, T. embryophagum, T. brassicae and T. evanescens, the highest prevalence of Wolbachia was observed in T. brassicae with 57 % of samples populations. The most infection rate belonged to populations of Mazandaran province. Despite the separation of different strains of Wolbachia on the basis of wsp gene, recombination analysis indicated a doubt about the grouping results of this symbiont inferring from this gene. This analysis indicated existence of some genetic exchangesbetween different strains of Wolbachia in wsp gene. The new approach called Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST system) could be effective solution in more accurate characterization of these endosymbionts.

This study firstly attempted to examine and measure the degree of development in rural areas of Hamedan province counties based on infrastructure, health and hygienic indicators and then compared the government performance during the third development plan. It used taxonomy model to harmonize and measure the level of development of rural areas; it also used Williamson coefficient of variation to compare the relative coefficients of variations. Factor analysis was used to remove the linearity between the factors, to reduce factors and to extract factors that are effective on the regional imbalances. The results indicated that, although the adoption of planned policies was associated with unequal distribution of facilities but comparison of variation coefficients showed that the third development plan had positive impacts on more balanced distribution of development possibilities in rural infrastructures, education and health during the period 1999-2004.

Integration of different pest control tactics is a principle in modern pest management. Interaction between different tactics and possible antagonism between them then will become important. A common integration is integration of egg parasitoid, TRICHOGRAMMA spp. and larvicidal microbial agent, Bacillus thuringiensis against some field crop moth-pests, particularly in bollworm-cotton system. Although sequence of application allows avoiding direct antagonism, but indirect effects on the next generation of the parasitoid via treating the target pest’ s larvae is not impossible. Some direct effect via overlapping of different stages of the pest is also possible. Therefore, studying possible maternal effects on parasitoids of the next generation that are developing on B. t.-treated host larvae is required. In this study, response of T. brassicae, was studied on two kinds of hosts; first bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera eggs laid by those females that treated by LC20 of B. thuringiensis in third instar. The second one control (untreated) individuals. Life history parameters were compared between the two groups by two-sided t-test. No significant difference was observed between the two groups. It means that B. t. had no undesirable effect on T. brassicae. The mean value of R0, rm and T were 41. 22 ± 3. 85 female/female/generation, 0. 3545 ± 0. 009 /d and 10. 49 ± 0. 19 d as average of the two treatments. Thus, B. t. is safe for integration with TRICHOGRAMMA application programs.

The effects of long-term rearing of TRICHOGRAMMA brassicae (Bezdenko) on host preference and switching behavior was examined when parasitizing two common factitious hosts, including Mediterranean flour moth (MFM), Ephestia kuehniella Zeller and Angoumois grain moth (AGM), Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier) over 45 generations. Both host species eggs were offered to the parasitoid over 24 h. Significantly more MFM eggs were parasitized in all generations, but a distinct negative switching behavior was found in all experiments. The parasitoid negatively switched from MFM when they became abundant compared to AGM and vice versa. The preference coefficient (c) estimated using Murdoch's index ranged from 2.056 (in G5) to 1.734 (in G45) for MFM and 0.486 (in G5) to 0.577 (in G45) for AGM. The linear regression indicated that despite preferring MFM, the intensity of the preference decreased over 45 generations. Negative switching behavior in T. brassicae may be advantageous for this species in controlling pests in given situations.