Fruit Fly Nutrition, Rearing and Quality Control

Abstract

Tephritid fruit flies are recognized worldwide as an important threat to the horticultural industry. Most of the species belonging to this group are highly polyphagous attacking several important fruits and vegetables. They cause direct damage through larval feeding and indirect losses are associated with quarantine restrictions. The increasing awareness of the damage caused by these fruit flies to the horticultural industry has created a demand for the development of control measures based on integrated pest management (IPM) strategies and the sterile insect technique (SIT). However, success of the majority of these control methods largely depends on the ability to establish cost effective rearing methods of the fruit flies as a pre-requisite to understanding their biology, response to attractants and susceptibility to various biological control agents. In the past decades, considerable advances have been made with regard to formulations of diet for rearing fruit flies and nutritional analyses for both adults and larvae. In general, insects require a diet containing a source of energy, a protein source, vitamins and certain mineral salts. Deficiency in some of these nutrients can influence the quality control parameters of the flies such as body size, survival, pupal weight, adult emergence, longevity, flight ability, fecundity, fertility and mating ability. In this chapter, the role played by nutrition in relation to different quality control parameters is discussed.