Učinkovitost štirih velikosti izpustitve parazitoidnih vrst iz rodu, Trichogramma (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) na nekatere biološke parametre manjšega dateljevega molja Batrachedra amydraula Meyricke, 1916 (Cosmopteridae: Batrachedridae) na palma

Date palms are infested with various destructive insect pests, which cause major economic losses. One of these pests is the smaller date moth Batrachedra amydraula Meyricke, 1916. The study aimed to examine the effectiveness of two different Trichogramma egg parasitoid (Trichogramma brassicae Bezdenko, 1968 and T. evanescens Westwood, 1833) in the biological control of the lesser date moth B. amydraula. Each parasitoid species was examined at four different release doses (250, 500, 750, and 1000 parasitoid/tree). The findings revealed that all species of Trichogramma had a substantial effect, particularly at high doses, on the high parasitism of B. amydraula eggs, reaching 86.75 % for a dose of 1000 T. evanescens parasitoids/tree, with a significant difference reached 83.49 % at a dose of 1000 T. brassicae parasitoids/tree. The maximum rate of emergence of T. evanescens adults was at a dose of 1000 parasitoids/tree, which was much higher than T. brassicae reached 64.20 %. The response of absolute doses of Trichogramma females to B. amydraula spawning sites was evaluated, and the parasite’s egg sites were determined according to tree height. The best parasitism rate was recorded for both Trichogramma species on trees whose height ranged from 1.5 m-2 m.