| Summary: | This article describes the importance of rearing insects, whether on a small scale for research or a large scale for mass rearing, for use in biological control (BC) programs with macro-organisms. These inter- or multidisciplinary research programs are necessarily long-term and depend on rearing techniques for their complete development. Some successful examples of BC in Brazil are presented, including case studies of <i>Trichogramma</i> spp. These required broad bioecological studies that provided the basis for both mass rearing and transfer of the necessary technology to farmers. This has allowed Brazil to occupy a leadership position in biological control in “Open Fields”. For example, about three million ha are being treated with <i>Trichogramma galloi</i> (a native parasitoid), and about three and a half million ha with <i>Cotesia flavipes</i> (an exotic parasitoid) to control <i>Diatraea saccharalis</i>, the sugarcane borer. These natural enemies are produced by commercial firms, or by laboratories in sugar and alcohol plants themselves, in the case of <i>C. flavipes</i>.
|
|---|