| Abstract: | Biological control is, potentially, and important component of integrated pest management. In most agricultural systems, if biological control is to be effective, periodic releases of biological control agents will be necessary for management of some key pests. These releases require the availability of large numbers of high quality biological control agents, which is dependent on effective mass rearing. Success in mass rearing of biological control agents should be defined in terms of the ability of those agents to contol the target pests. Of the numerous factors that contribute to the successful implementation of such biological control programs, two factors are particularly relevant to mass rearing. First is capacity, the ability to produce, in a timely manner, a sufficient number of agents to treat a significant portion of the area where a pest occurs. Second is the quality of the agents produced, in terms of their ability to perform their function, effectively after release. Regardless of how many agents we release, if they are not capable of functioning effectively at the release site, we cannot expect a biological control success. Large numbers of high quality biological control agents are fundamental prerequisites to successful integration of augmentative biological control and thus, to the success of mass rearing programs. Some approaches for increasing production capacity and maintaining high quality will be discussed. |
