Studies to achieve the goal of CoteBio are structured in two main complementary parts.
Biology of host-parasite interactions : studies aim at identifying mechanisms of C. typhae reproductive success and the factors of variation, by uncovering physiological and behavioral components of this success, the genes involved and their function. Results improve the understanding of insect reproduction, and allow identifying the most promising C. typhae strain for large scale production and biocontrol.
Testing biocontrol feasibility, based on four main questions :
- Environmental risk of introducing C. typhae in France, in the frame of a regulatory process relative to the introduction of exotic macro-organisms for plant protection. Based on the biology and ecology of C. typhae and sister species, we have evaluated the risk for non-target species, and on C. typhae possibility to overwinter and establish.
- Parasitic efficiency of C. typhae against S. nonagrioides : it has been studied on maize plantations in greenhouses, based on the experience gained with C. flavipes, and using different parasitoid strains, temperature ranges and host stages.
- Parasitoids production : methods are being set up for host and parasitoid mass rearing with the perspective of industrial production and commercialization. Different temperatures, diets, and rearing systems are being tested in a perspective of sustainable costs, and possibilities of parasitoid storage.
- Market perspectives : to estimate economical sustainability of C. typhae use, an analysis has been done to characterize current maize surfaces requiring protection against the Mediterranean and the European cornborers in Europe and cost of treatment with conventional insecticides, to define affordable cost of biological control and estimate qualities and surfaces of maize where C. typhae use could be economically interesting.