Development of a larval diet for the South American fruit fly Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Abstract

Mass-rearing protocols must be developed, in particular, a cost-effective larval diet, to implement the sterile insect technique against Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann).The key elements of this diet are the optimal nutrients and their concentrations, diet supports or bulking agents, and the pH of the diet. To improve the currently used formulation and develop a more cost-effective diet, in the present study, we evaluated various supports, sugar contents, nutrient proportions and pH levels. Egg-to-pupa recovery was found to increase when agar was replaced with sponge cloth in the diet. Although low, the recovery values obtained when using the sugarcane bagasse-based diet were similar to those obtained when using the agar-based diet, but the percentage of adult emergence was lower. Larval viability was found to increase when the amount of sugar in the diet was doubled. Yet, it is still necessary to evaluate this diet on a larger scale and determine the feasibility of reusing the sponge cloth to reduce the costs of larval diets.

Rearing two fruit flies pests on artificial diet with variable pH

“…For both species of fruit fly, the smaller viability of the larval and pupae stage observed when larvae were kept on diet with pH 2.0, but differing from the diet with pH 3.0, is similar to results reported for Bactrocera invadens Drew, Tsuruta & White, 2005 (Diptera: Tephritidae) using liquid diet with pH 3.5 Ekesi et al (2014). Vera et al (2014) evaluated diets for A. fraterculus with addition of ascorbic, citric and lactic acid and found that, irrespective of the acid used, the pH of 3.5 appears to be too low for egg hatch, larval viability, egg-to-pupa recovery, and pupal weight.…”

“…Vargas et al (1984), found rapid deterioration in artificial diets with pH between 5.0 and 6.0. Vera et al (2014) found contamination on diets for larval development with pH 4.5. On diets with pH 1.5 and 1.0, there was no contamination and no larval hatching either, which may be related to the infertility of eggs on the acid medium (Von Zuben, 1998).…”

“…for C. capitata (Papachristos et al, 2008). However, despite its importance, few studies have discussed the influence of pH in artificial diet on the biology of Tephritidae (Vargas et al, 1984;Chan Junior and Jang, 1995;Hu et al, 1999;Vera et al, 2014).…”

Assessment of a liquid larval diet for rearing Dacus species and Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae)

“…Later, B. dorsalis (Chang, Vargas, Jang, Caceres, & Cho, ) and Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann (Chang, Caceres, & Ekesi, ) were successfully reared with the liquid larval diet. More recently, liquid artificial diet has been used to rear a number of tephritid fruit fly species including Anastrepha fraterculus Wiedemann (Vera et al., ) and also other Diptera including Musca domestica L. (Chang, ). Only one attempt has been made to rear a member of the genus Dacus ( Dacus ciliatus Loew) using the liquid diet (Chang, ).…”

“…More recently, liquid artificial diet has been used to rear a number of tephritid fruit fly species including Anastrepha fraterculus Wiedemann (Vera et al, 2014) and also other Diptera including Musca domestica L. (Chang, 2008). Only one attempt has been made to rear a member of the genus Dacus (Dacus ciliatus Loew) using the liquid diet (Chang, 2008).…”