Abstract
One factor limiting the adoption of aphidophagous coccinellids in augmentative biological control is cost-effective mass production. The use of factitious foods may lower production costs by reducing space and manpower requirements for mass rearing of the predator and its prey and by enhancing mechanization of rearing procedures. The objective of this study was to compare the efficiency of food conversion, consumption indices and growth rates of first to fourth instars of Adalia bipunctata when fed either a mixture of Ephestia kuehniella eggs and fresh bee pollen, or on the natural prey Myzus persicae. Larval survival did not differ among treatments, averaging 80 and 90% on the respective diets. Mean dry body weights of the coccinellid were significantly lower on M. persicae than on the factitious food only for second instars and the pre-pupal stage. Dry food consumption by the predator throughout larval development averaged 20.61 mg on factitious food and 14.82 mg (corresponding to an average of 284 third and fourth instars) on M. persicae. The efficiency of conversion of ingested food for total larval development averaged 25 and 30% on factitious food and aphids, respectively. The relative growth rate of the larval instars was higher on aphids, whereas the consumption index was higher on the mixture of E. kuehniella eggs and pollen. An additional experiment showed that rearing the previous instars on the factitious food had no substantial effect on aphid consumption in the fourth instar. The study suggests that this factitious diet may be an appropriate food source for mass rearing A. bipunctata.
Highlights
The green peach aphid Myzus persicae (Sulzer) is one of the most serious crop pests worldwide (Radcliffe, 1982)
Larvae of A. bipunctata had similar survival and body weights when fed on M. persicae or on a factitious food consisting of E. kuehniella eggs mixed with moist bee pollen, indicating the equivalence of these foods in terms of nutritional content for larval development
Latter authors showed that larvae of the coccinellid fed E. kuehniella eggs and pollen became adults that were heavier and more fecund than those fed pea aphids, whereas egg hatch on the factitious food was similar to that on pea aphids
Summary
The green peach aphid Myzus persicae (Sulzer) is one of the most serious crop pests worldwide (Radcliffe, 1982). It has a very broad host range (more than 40 plant families) and transmits over 100 plant viruses (Blackman & Eastop, 1984). The two-spot ladybird beetle Adalia bipunctata (L.) is a potential natural enemy of M. persicae and other aphids and has been used in augmentative biological control in Europe (Wyss et al, 1999; De Clercq et al, 2005). It is a polyphagous predator (Hodek, 1973), occurring in Europe, Central Asia and North America (Majerus, 1994). Some studies have indicated its potential for use against M. persicae in different greenhouse crops (Hämäläinen, 1977, 1980)
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