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Establishment of an Exotic Parasitoid Cotesia vestalis in Coastal Areas of Kenya as Biological Control Agent of Plutella xylostella

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Sustainable Management of Invasive Pests in Africa

Part of the book series: Sustainability in Plant and Crop Protection ((SUPP,volume 14))

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Abstract

The aims of this study were to follow up on the establishment of Cotesia vestalis in the coastal regions of Kenya, assessing its contribution in the management of the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella), parasitism rates, and cultural practices affecting its establishment. Post-release surveys were carried out in five counties in Kenya, Kitui, Kajiado, Kwale, Machakos and Makueni, between 2015 and 2016. The results showed that the overall parasitism rate of C. vestalis in 2015 ranged between 0% and 37.86% while that in 2016 ranged from 0% to 32.19% in the different counties. Farmers carry out routine sprays, either weekly or fortnightly, with different synthetic insecticides. Pyrethroids (60.56%) constituted most of the insecticides used, while only 3.18% of the products used were plant or microorganism- based. Farmers did most of their cabbage production during the rainy season, with production being greatly reduced during the dry seasons. The sampled diamondback moths from Kajiado, Kitui, Makueni, Kwale and Malawi had ≥98% similarity to Cotesia vestalis, as shown by bioinformatics analyses using PCR amplified products of 700 bp, obtained for the mitochondrial COI gene. Alignment showed highly conserved regions, and the phylogenetic analysis revealed two close lineages corresponding to Cotesia vestalis (Genbank accession: FJ154897) and Cotesia spp. (acc. HM430398). Data provide a clear indication that the parasitoid became established in its release sites in Kenya, although parasitism rates are still low probably due to heavy pesticide use and climatic factors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya

    Mukembu Joan Mukiri, Shadrack Muvui Muya & Steven Ger Nyanjom

  2. Plant Health Division, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), Nairobi, Kenya

    Mukembu Joan Mukiri, Fathiya M. Khamis, Fidelis Levi Ombura, Sevgan Subramanian, Brigitte Nyambo, Sunday Ekesi & Saliou Niassy

  3. Crop Health Unit, Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), Embu Research Centre, Embu, Kenya

    Johnson Nyasani

Authors
  1. Mukembu Joan Mukiri
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Correspondence to Saliou Niassy .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. International Centre of Insect Physiology, Nairobi, Kenya

    Saliou Niassy

  2. International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), Nairobi, Kenya

    Sunday Ekesi

  3. CABI, Nairobi, Kenya

    Lorna Migiro

  4. CABI, Nairobi, Kenya

    Washington Otieno

Appendix

Appendix

Farmer questionnaire used for Cotesia vestalis post-release Surveys (Kenya- Kajiado, Kitui, Machakos, Makueni).

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Mukiri, M.J. et al. (2020). Establishment of an Exotic Parasitoid Cotesia vestalis in Coastal Areas of Kenya as Biological Control Agent of Plutella xylostella. In: Niassy, S., Ekesi, S., Migiro, L., Otieno, W. (eds) Sustainable Management of Invasive Pests in Africa. Sustainability in Plant and Crop Protection, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41083-4_10

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