Assignment 3: Biological Control of Insect Pests and Weeds

Following table shows different traits of natural enemies for use in biological control of whitefly
on vegetables or American bollworm on cotton (choose one of your you like or know about
more than the other).

A) Indicate the best natural enemy, and the worst enemy among the natural enemies
given in the table.
B) Support your answer by giving scientific reasons/ logics/ arguments for your choice.

Natural Eggs laid Length of Number Temperature Searching Handling

enemy per female life cycle of hosts tolerance ability time
1 100 One week 1 15 to 35 C High Short
2 150 13 days 2 25 to 40 C Moderate Long
3 75 12 days 1 20 to 8 C Low Very long
4 125 10 days 3 10 to 35 C Very high Very short
5 200 15 days 4 30 to 45 C Very low Moderate

Note:

1. This is due on next Thursday (April 6th) in the class.

2. Your answers will be compared with each other for to check if these are not copied and
will be graded accordingly.