Toxicity of Biopesticides to Trichogramma chilonis Ishii and Chrysopa scelestis Banks, the Natural Enemies of Sugarcane Pests

The toxic effect of different botanical insecticides and a synthetic pesticide, malathion at different (5, 7 and 10%) concentrations was tested for the natural enemies of sugarcane pests, Trichogramma chilonis Ishii and Chrysopa scelestis Banks by thin film method under laboratory conditions. All the plant extracts at 5 per cent concentration were relatively less toxic to both adult T. chilonis and larvae of C. scelestis, compared to malathion. The mean corrected per cent mortality of T. chilonis by the plant extracts and malathion at 5, 7 and 10% ranged from 16 to 50.75, 18.75 to 51.50 and 26.00 to 63.50 per cent, respectively. While in the case of toxic effect of plant products and malathion against C. scelestis at 5, 7 and 10% ranged from 20 to 60, 30 to 80 and 40 to 100 per cent, respectively.