Techniques were carried out for sugarcane artificial infestation with Diatraea saccharalis (Fabr., 1794) eggs for Trichogramma studies purposes. Tests were conducted under greenhouse conditions to evaluate a suitable method to obtain D. saccharalis eggs on sugarcane leaves, in order to get maximum parasitism by Trichogramma distinctum Zucchi, 1988 and T. galloi Zucchi, 1988. Two different methods were tested for each Trichogramma species: a) pin attachment of small pieces of paper containing D. saccharalis eggs to sugarcane leaves and b) D. saccharalis couples maintained in cages on the sugarcane plants for direct oviposition on the leaves. Meanwhile, a technique was developed to estimate the number of D. saccharalis eggs obtained from artificial infestations, which consisted of placing a translucid and reticulum printed plastic sheet on the cluster surface area. Thus, the number of eggs per cluster was estimated through regression models developed according to the cluster size. A reduction in parasitism (%) was observed for both Trichogramma species being studied when eggs of D. saccharalis were offered on paper. Therefore, confinement of D. saccharalis couples on the plant was the most suitable method to infest sugarcane with eggs for Trichogramma studies. The technique developed to count eggs of D. saccharalis has proved to be useful for artificial infestations under field conditions.
sugarcane borer; Diatraea saccharalis; egg infestation technique; Trichogramma; biological control