Insects (2020) 11 (2 - 131)

Carlos Pascacio-Villafán, Larissa Guillén and Martín Aluja (2020)
Agar and carrageenan as cost-effective gelling agents in yeast-reduced artificial diets for mass-rearing fruit flies and their parasitoids
Insects 11 (2 - 131)
Abstract: The development of cost-effective diets for mass-rearing fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) and their parasitoids in pest control programs based on the Sterile Insect Technique is a high priority worldwide. To this end, we tested carrageenan, agar, gelatin and two types of pregelatinized corn starches as gelling agents at varying percentages in a yeast-reduced liquid larval diet for rearing the Mexfly, Anastrepha ludens. Only diets with 0.234% (w/w) agar or 0.424% carrageenan were identified as diets with potential for mass-rearing A. ludens in terms of the number of pupae recovered from the diet, pupal weight, adult emergence, flight ability and diet cost. Comparative experiments showed that yeast-reduced agar and carrageenan gel diets produced heavier pupae and higher proportions of flying adults than the standard mass-rearing diet. The gel-agar and mass-rearing diets produced more pupae than the gel-carrageenan diet, but the latter produced more suitable larvae as hosts for rearing of Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) females, a widely used fruit fly biocontrol agent. Yeast-reduced agar and carrageenan gel diets could represent cost-effective fruit fly mass-rearing diets if a practical system for gel diet preparation and dispensation at fruit fly mass-rearing facilities is developed.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Full text of article
Database assignments for author(s): Martín Aluja

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
rearing/culturing/mass production
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
rearing/culturing/mass production

---

Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Anastrepha ludens
Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (parasitoid)	Anastrepha ludens