Field Guide of Discovery-based Exercises for - Aseanipm ...

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Field Guide of Discovery-based Exercises for Organic Vegetable Production
4. Facilitate each farmer to do farm-level mass-production and use of Euborellia annulata as a
general predator of eggs, larvae, and pupae of numerous insect pests as well as leafhoppers,
planthoppers, aphids, and many soft-bodied insect pests of organically-grown vegetables 154 :
a. Collection and rearing of Founder Population:
5 Collect initial earwig population;
a) dissect corn stalks heavily infested with ACB
b) pile of decomposing corn cobs
c) request from NCPC
5 Place about 2.5 kg of soil-sand mixture (3:1 by volume) inside an acrylic pan with net
or screen cover (14.5 cm by 8.5 cm);
5 Moisten mixture to about 27–30% moisture content;
5 Release adults (12 females and 4 males);
5 Feed insect weekly with about 10-15 g fish meal;
5 Adults will lay about 6 egg batches and these offspring will develop into adults in
about 35 days.
B. mass-rearing of Earwig (Euborellia annulata):
5 Sterilize soil-sand mixture (3:1 by volume)
5 Place 2.5 kg of 3:1 soil-sand mixture each in 10 plastic rearing trays
5 Adjust soil moisture to 27 to 30%;
5 Introduce adult earwigs (36 females and 12 males);
5 Feed earwigs weekly with 15-20 g fish meal and every 7days thereafter;
5 About 4,000 earwigs of different ages can be produced per rearing tray within two
months; and
5 Cost of rearing earwigs is P0.04 per individual.
C. Using Earwig (Euborellia annulata) as Biological Control agent:
5 At 20 and 27 days after planting (DAP) or days after transplanting (DAT), release
20,000 earwigs per hectare per release;
5 Use straw as organic mulch to provide cozy shelter for earwigs at daytime; and
5 If target pests are predominantly lepidopterans and exceedingly high, supplement with
release of Trichogramma to be more effective.
154 Javier, P.A. 2005. Farm-level utilization of predators: Earwigs and Orius. Power point presentation during a Workshop on Integrated Production and Pest
Management in Processing Tomato: Issues and Prospects held on July 2005 at Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, Philippines. 17 slides.