Agar and Carrageenan as Cost-Effective Gelling Agents in Yeast-Reduced Artificial Diets for Mass-Rearing Fruit Flies and Their Parasitoids.

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 flyi

SUBMITTER: Pascacio-Villafan C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7073888 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature