Biological characteristics of a predator can be affected by the nutritional history of its prey, e.g., change in the nutritional components of prey may influence the development and reproduction of its predator. In this study, the predation, reproduction and conversion rate of a native predatory mite, Neoseiulus barkeri were compared when fed with two colonies of the flour mite Tyrophagus putrescentiae, the one reared on common wheat bran (TPA) and the other on a mixture of wheat bran and yeast (TPB). The experiments were conducted under laboratory condition at 25°C, 80% relative humidity, and 16:8 light:dark photoperiod. The daily consumption of unmated and mated N. barkeri females fed with TPB was 1.30 and 1.93 times higher than those fed with TPA. The daily and cumulative fecundity of mated predator females fed with TPB were 1.55 and 2.47 times, and their eggs being 1.20 times as those of females fed with TPA. The daily consumption of unmated females gradually decreased with age. For both mated and unmated females fed with TPA or TPB, we observed a wave pattern curve of daily prey consumption. The mean difference between two wave peaks was 3.55±0.23 days. It seems a periodic trend instead of random vibration due to the relative consist differences between wave peaks and similar sizes of the peaks. About 82% and 74% overall consumption of mated females offered TPA and TPB were allocated to reproduction, with corresponding conversion rate being 0.39 and 0.28, respectively. Overall, adding yeast to the diet of T. putrescentiae led to increased fecundity of N. barkeri mainly through stimulating its predation.
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