The publisher apologises for an error in the fourth named author of this article. The author's name should be 'Omkar' only, NOT 'Omkar Singh' as published.

Abstract. The nutritive quality of aphids, conspecific and heterospecific eggs as food for ladybirds is a controversial issue. If ladybirds find aphids more palatable than eggs then they are more likely to efficiently exploit and be biocontrol agents of aphids. If eggs of conspecific or heterospecific ladybirds are more palatable than aphids these biocontrol agents may either impede aphid pest suppression or become a threat to other species of ladybirds. Thus, prior to formulating predatory guilds of ladybirds the nutritive quality of their eggs compared to that of the target aphid needs to be determined. In this regards, the present study evaluates the nutritive quality of an ad libitum supply of: (i) pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris), (ii) conspecific eggs and (iii) heterospecific eggs as food for Coccinella septempunctata (L.) and Coccinella transversalis Fabricius (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), by determining the stage specific predation and developmental attributes of these two ladybirds reared on these diets. The conversion efficiencies and growth rates of young (first, second and third) larvae of both species of ladybirds were higher than those of fourth instar larvae and the consumption rates of fourth instar were higher than those of young larvae when fed on the three diets. When fed aphids the pre-imaginal development was faster, the consumption rates, conversion efficiencies and growth rates higher, adults bigger and mortality lower than when fed on conspecific eggs. The larvae of C. septempunctata consumed and completed their development when fed eggs of C. transversalis but the first instar larvae of C. transversalis did not consume the eggs of C. septempunctata and died of starvation. The dominance of C. septempunctata over C. transversalis in agricultural fields may be due to it consuming and utilizing aphids more efficiently and as a consequence growing faster and suffering a lower mortality along with its ability to consume and complete its development on eggs of C. transversalis. Thus, both these predators may not continue to coexist as predators of the pea aphid in agricultural fields since C. septempunctata may become a greater threat to C. transversalis in the future.

Abstract. A study was conducted at four Village Development Committees (Masuriya, Udashipur, Basauti and Pahalmanpur) of Kailali dis- trict, Far western Region, Nepal in 2016/17 to find out the effect of different storage materials on the seed moisture content and germination percentage of wheat. Seeds of wheat were packed using five storage materials (metal seed bin, earthen pot, purdue improved crop storage / Pics/ bag, gunny bag and super grain bag). The stored seed samples were drawn at three-month intervals starting from May 2016 to January 2017. The experiment was arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in four replications. The results of analysis of variance revealed that the effect of storage materials was significant (P≤0.05) on seed moisture content and seed germination of wheat. After nine months of storage, the seeds stored in Pics bag recorded the lowest moisture (13.3%) and temperature (26.4°C), and the highest germination percentage (91.75%). The lowest quality performance (high moisture and temperature, low germination) of stored seeds was observed in an earthen pot. From the results obtained, it was concluded that wheat seed could be stored for a long time in Pics bag without deteriorating its quality parameters.

No abstract

Male contributions, both chemical and behavioural, can influence female sperm usage and reproductive success. To determine whether such male factors are subject to depletion in Coccinella septempunctata and Coccinella transversalis, we tested the effects of male mating history on male virility, as estimated by measures of mating behaviour, female reproductive success and progeny fitness, with parental age held constant. Overt measures of male mating effort (wriggling duration, number of shaking bouts and total copula duration) all diminished from virgin to 5 × mated males and were mirrored by concurrent declines in female fecundity and fertility (measured over 20 days). Paternal effects were also observed which diminished as a function of mating history, suggesting that transgenerational signals of male origin are also subject to depletion. Progeny of virgin fathers had higher rates of survival (C. transversalis) and faster development (both species) than progeny of 5 × mated fathers. Seminal fluid proteins are known to have allohormonal properties and can stimulate female fecundity and fertility in a number of insects, making them strong candidates for depletion as a function of mating activity. However, it is also possible that sperm limitation and/or reduced tactile stimulation of females by multiplemated males may have contributed to some of the observed effects.