Background:
The mass rearing of insects has become essential for implementing eco-friendly bio-intensive pest management strategy. To implement IPM strategy, bio-control agents (parasitoids, predators and bio-pesticides) are required in large quantities. The Rice meal moth, Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton) (Lepidoptera:Pyralidae) a store grain pest is an important laboratory host for rearing a variety of bio-control agents. The important among them are egg parasitoids- Trichogramma spp.; egg-larval parasitoid- Chelonus blackburni; larval parasitoids- Bracon spp., Goniozus nephantidis, Apanteles spp.; insect predators Chrysoperla carnea, Mallada boniensis and Cyrtorhynus lividipennis. Besides these, entomo-pathogenic nematodes such as Steinernema feltiae (Neoaplectana carpocapsea) are also multiplied upon this host insect. Mass production of this insect is a prerequisite for the mass production of these bio-control agents. The bio-control agents’ use, however, has remained low due to a number of technological, socio-economic and institutional constraints:
Technology details:
Bio-intensive pest management can’t operate without the availability of bio-control agents (predators, parasitoids and bio-pesticides). The present invention relates to an insect rearing and collection apparatus needed for mass rearing of insects in the insectaries. The ease of rearing insects and its collection may facilitate handling of the insects in a smart way by the use of the technology.