Effect of avocado and yogurt in diet media on wing length, ovariole number and progeny production of Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

Dietary constituents are known to have profound effect on physiological activities including reproductive fitness, fecundity and body size of the organism. In the present study, the flies of Drosophila melanogaster were reared in yogurt and avocado supplemented media to understand its effect on the wing length, ovariole number and progeny production. The results showed that the wing length, ovariole number and progeny production were significantly higher in those reared on avocado+ yogurt media followed by yogurt supplemented media. This suggests that avocado and yogurt as a combination followed by yogurt alone provided required nutrients to the flies to grow larger in size and have a greater number of ovarioles, and produce greater number of progeny than the flies grown in wheat-cream agar media. These results suggest that avocado and yogurt as a combination provide reproductive fitness benefits followed by yogurt media alone.