Journal of Insect Science (2019) 19 (4 - 10)

Yasaman Moghaddassi, Ahmad Ashouri, Ali Reza Bandani, Norman C. Leppla and Paul D. Shirk (2019)
Effect of Ephestia kuehniella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) larval diet on egg quality and parasitism by Trichogramma brassicae (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae)
Journal of Insect Science 19 (4 - 10)
Abstract: Trichogramma spp., among the most common parasitoids used for augmentation biological control, often are mass-reared on eggs of the Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella (Zeller). To evaluate removal of nutritional components from the E. kuehniella larval diet and reduce production costs, colonies were maintained using one of three diets: a standard diet consisting of eight ingredients, a reduced diet containing whole wheat flour, glycerol, and Brewer's yeast, or a third minimal diet of only whole wheat flour. The standard diet sustained the fastest larval development, female pupae with the greatest mass, the highest level of adult emergence, and production of the most eggs per female. Eggs from moths reared as larvae on the standard or reduced diet had equivalent mass, length, and percent hatch. Females from larvae fed the minimal diet produced eggs with the least mass that were shorter and had the lowest percent hatch. Eggs from the three E. kuehniella colonies were exposed separately to Trichogramma brassicae Bezdenko females to determine their acceptance for oviposition. More of the eggs from the standard diet were parasitized by the females, eggs from the reduced and minimal diets being less acceptable. The percent emergence of the parasitoids was the same regardless of diet; however, the largest wasps emerged from the standard diet eggs and a greater proportion of them were females. Consequently, the standard E. kuehniella larval diet resulted in the highest rate of reproduction and robust eggs that produced superior T. brassicae wasps.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
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Database assignments for author(s): Ahmad Ashouri, Ali Reza Bandani, Norman C. Leppla

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

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
Trichogramma brassicae (parasitoid)			Iran