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Student ProjectsAgAttack has established a youth focus on its web site. We want to encourage elementary, middle, high school, and college students to perform research in biological control. Students will design a research project, complete it, and report their results. The students will submit their findings to the web site for publishing. An email address provided by the students will allow others who are interested to make direct contact for questions or comments. AgAttack is committed to helping people learn more about integrated pest management (IPM) through biological control. AgAttack intends to collect information that will be helpful to all IPM stakeholders. AgAttack will not provide biased reporting, rather factual results from original research. Completed Student Research Projects -- click hereResearch Submittal via email: mailto:agattack@comcast.netCompleted Student Research Projects Artificial diet for Orius Who: Crissy Orr, Ocean View Jr. High School, Southern California, contact: crissyorr@yahoo.com What: In this project, I was trying to find a way to cut the costs of rearing Orius insidiosus by using an artificial diet developed by Dr. Allen Cohen. The food used most often by insectaries to rear Orius are Ephestia eggs, a type of moth egg. Ephestia eggs are very expensive but this diet is not and has been proven to sustain lacewings and Geocoris. If this diet becomes a worthy option to rear Orius, the insectaries could save a lot of money. I have concluded that Orius insidiosus can not be successfully reared on artificial diet packets alone. I did find, that when Orius are fed Ephestia eggs for their first feeding they would flourish. This led me to believe that the reason the Orius in the artificial diet only group died was because they either could not find the diet or they couldn’t get at it through the parafilm. I have also concluded that that when fed Ephestia eggs for the first feeding, Orius can be good egg producers. In my evaluations of fecundity, I found that using artificial diet and Ephestia eggs instead of using straight Ephestia eggs and works better in the long run. The Orius that were reared on Ephestia and diet produced more eggs, and the diet is not as expensive. Overall, this project proves that Orius can not be reared on diet packets alone, but they can be reared when fed Ephestia eggs for the first feeding, then followed by diet. I have found that the third generation Ephestia/Diet group produced a high rate of fecundity. This makes the diet suitable for Orius because they survived and excelled for three generations. This diet can be and is being used in insectaries. When: Project lasted 26 days, results were published April 9, 2000. Where: A commercial insectary in Southern California. Why: Commercial rearing of beneficial insects
is very expensive. Orius insidiosus, a
predatory Hemipteran, is commonly used to control thrips on greenhouse crops,
enabling growers to reduce the spraying of pesticides. Beneficial insects could
have lower prices if the cost for growing them wasn’t so high. If Orius
could be reared on artificial diet rather than the commonly used Ephestia
eggs, rearing costs may be cut by 50%. An artificial diet has been developed
by USDA researcher Dr. Allen Cohen and has been used successfully to rear
lacewings and Geocoris. How: This diet was tested with Orius insidiosus through three generations. The third generation was evaluated for fecundity. I found that the Orius reared on only artificial diet packets had a very a poor survival rate. When I fed them Ephestia eggs for their first feeding and then diet packets they were able to become adults and I evaluated them for fecundity. I compared the fecundity of Orius reared on only Ephestia eggs and Orius reared on Ephestia and the diet and found that the Eph/Diet colony produced 108% more eggs. These results have motivated a commercial insectary to incorporate the artificial diet in their Orius production.
Compost from Coconut Waste Who: p.senthilkumar,k.s.r college of technology, malay_pisth@rediffmail.com What: Decomposition of coirpith into fertilizer using p.platypus to avoid the pollution of coirpith produced by coir industry. When: 2004 Where: Coconut research station. Why: COIRPITH IS an agricultural waste produced from the coir industry (coconuts). Approximately 180 grams of coirpith is obtained from the husk of one coconut. Coirpith contains Carbon:Nitrogen in the ratio of 112:1 and contains 75 per cent lignin which does not permit natural composting as in other agricultural wastes. One strategy is to use mushroom Pleurotus to degrade part of the lignin present in coirpith by production of enzymes like cellulases and lactases. The carbon:nitrogen ratio of coirpith is reduced from 112:1 to 24:1 as a result of composting. The compost can absorb water up to eight times its weight. It improves the rate of water infiltration and increases the nutrient availability to crops (excerpt from www.hindu.com). This strategy of using p.platypus is new, but achieves the same objective (as the mushrooms) of breaking down the coirpith into a useable and beneficial form.
Low Cost Media for Bio-fertilizers
and Bio-Control Agents What: Low cost media for bio-fertilizers and bio-control agents. Selection of low cost media to reduce the bio-fertilizer and bio-control agents cost to farmers. When: Started this project 6 months ago it should take more than 1 year to complete. Where: Service based non governmental organization 7/3a north malaiyadipatti rajapalayam 626117 virudunagar dt tamilnadu s India. Why: Service for the former community and remediation to tsunami effected areas. How: Cultivation of saline resistant plants along with bio-fertilizers and bio-control agents at subsidy (or) free of costs. |
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