A Study on Laboratory Rearing of Lady Bird Beetle (Coccinella Septempunctata) to Observe Its Fecundity and Longevity on Natural and Artificial Diets

Abstract

Development and reproductive potential of the Coccinella septempunctata L. (CSL) was conducted under laboratory conditions to determine its fecundity and longevity on natural and artificial diets. Tests were made on laboratory rearing materials and all development stages were carefully recorded. Success ratios in these experiments were a matter of logistic and synchronization of these life cycles, the plant phytophagous and entomophagous insects. A positive correlation was obtained between food consumption and egg production, so fecundity of CSL is affected by the type of food. CSL consumed highly significant (Rhopalosiphum maidis) 32.2 aphids per day as compared to other treatments. Oviposition response was the maximum on these beetles which consumed 1 st and 2 nd instars of Macrosiphon roseae. CSL reared under artificial diet showed more longevity 41.6 days on plain water. Greater emphasis was pertinent on evaluation of predator specificity, understanding of colonization in new environments and assessment of community-level interactions to maximize the use of Coccinellids in Biological Control (BC).

Improving the artificial diet for adult of seven spotted ladybird beetleCoccinella septempunctataL. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) with orthogonal design

“…In conclusion, the diet we developed here is suitable for rearing C. septempunctata . The diet-fed C. septempunctata adults had the improved survival rate, fecundity and shortened preoviposition period compared with the previous reports (Sun & Wan, 1999; Sighinolfi et al ., 2008; Ashraf et al ., 2010; Yazdani & Zarabi, 2011; Lü et al ., 2015). The reported diets contained the natural preys, such as aphids, pupae of wasp or eggs of rice moth ( Corcyra cephalonica molitor) (Sun & Wan, 1999; Wang et al ., 2008; Rojas et al ., 2016).…”

“…Currently, lady beetles are reared mainly using aphids as food. This method is costly and time-consuming for the mass production of the insect (Ashraf et al ., 2010; Bonte et al ., 2010). Furthermore, a natural prey diet is unable to support the beetles’ population to sustain year-round because environmental conditions may limit the prey supply and the need to rear prey.…”

“…Studies on artificial diets for lady beetles were initiated in the 1950s; Smirnoff (1958) reported a prey powder-based artificial diet that successfully reared a variety of predatory ladybugs. Later on, non-prey compositions and non-insect source components were studied for the diet for various species of lady beetles (Sighinolfi et al ., 2008; Zhang et al ., 2008; Ashraf et al ., 2010; Sarwar & Saqib, 2010; Yazdani & Zarabi, 2011; Tan et al ., 2015). However, compared with prey powder-based artificial diets, these diets are inferior with regard to the weight gain, pupation rate and eclosion rate.…”

“…Orthogonal design involves the selection of representative combinations of factors and levels for laboratory experiments and can also be used to aid the design of an improved artificial diet for an insect based on the combination of ingredients (Wu & Leung, 2011 a ). We tested 15 components identified from the most successful lady beetle artificial diets (Venkatesan et al ., 1998; Guo & Wan, 2001; Wang et al ., 2008; Ashraf et al ., 2010; Sarwar & Saqib, 2010; Lü et al ., 2015) and a new (pumpkin) component using an orthogonal design. The aim of this study was to identify key diet factors affecting reproduction of the lady beetle adult and develop an improved diet formulation for mass production of eggs, increasing hatching rate and adults of survival rate.…”

Transcriptome sequencing of Coccinella septempunctata adults (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) feeding on artificial diet and Aphis craccivora

“…septempunctata is reared mainly using aphids as food, but this method is costly and time-consuming because it requires mass rearing of both aphids and C . septempunctata [ 9 – 10 ]. Therefore, the availability of artificial diets is crucial for successful mass rearing of C .…”