Evaluating the natural parasitism of the Millet head miner

Eggs of the MHM were collected every rainy season (August- September) from 2014 to 2016 in farmers’ pearl millet fields in different environments of Niger (9 villages in 2014, 7 villages in 2015 and 17 villages in 2016) in approximately 100 farms every year. The eggs were collected from approximately 5000 panicles every year and were reared in the laboratory at ambient temperature until the emergence of parasitoids. The natural parasitism was assessed based on the number of parasitized eggs out of the total number of collected eggs (5700–7000 eggs). Emerging parasitoids were identified and sexed.

2014年至2016年的每个雨季（8月至9月），研究人员于尼日尔不同生境的农户珍珠粟田内采集MHM卵粒，每年采样覆盖约100个农场，2014年、2015年、2016年分别涉及9个、7个、17个村落。每年约从5000个穗部采集卵粒，并在实验室常温条件下饲养至寄生蜂羽化。基于采集总卵量（5700~7000粒）中被寄生卵的数量，评估其自然寄生率。对羽化出的寄生蜂完成种类鉴定与性别鉴定。