Abstract
The parasitoid wasp, Habracon hebetor, Say is used widely in mass production against larval stage of field and stored product insect pests. Less is known about the third-trophic level effects of cereal flour on the population dynamics of H. hebetor. In this study, tritrophic level effects of three cereal flours (wheat, corn, and barley) on population dynamics and population projection of H. hebetor were studied. Data were analyzed by constructing the age-stage, two-sex life table, to take into consideration either female or male and stage differentiation. According to our results, the used corn host type (var.704) was more suitable host for H. hebetor than wheat and barley due to the shortening developmental time (10.76 ± 0.08 d), increasing survival rate (0.74 ± 0.006), female longevity (14.93 ± 0.92 d) and fecundity (91.20 ± 9.05 offspring/female). Also, the population growth parameters, including the intrinsic rate of increase (0.2217 ± 0.0178 d− 1), finite rate of increase (1.25 ± 0.02 d− 1), and reproductive rate (27.92 ± 6.57 offspring) were the highest on corn host type. Interestingly, the predicted of population growth of H. hebetor was the fastest and highest on corn, followed by wheat, and barley. The results of this study provide direction to design a comprehensive program for the mass rearing of H. hebetor.