Evaluation of a pelleted diet for larval mass‐rearing of Anastrepha ludens and Anastrepha obliqua

Abstract

Most artificial diets used for mass‐rearing of fruit fly larvae involve the purchase and independent weighing of each ingredient of the formulation, followed by mixing and diet preparation process. A ready‐to‐use formulation would avoid this time‐consuming task and simplify the preparation procedure, leading to a more standardized diet. In this work, we compared life‐history traits and survival and developmental parameters of Anastrepha ludens Loew and Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart) (Diptera: Tephritidae) reared on two formulations of an artificial diet. Two experiments were performed; first, a conventional non‐pelleted diet was compared to a newly developed pelleted diet, which was mixed with water before being given to the larvae. The second experiment consisted of a comparison between the pelleted diet which was stirred in a mixer with water and dissolved preservatives and a pelleted diet which was only soaked in water with dissolved preservatives. We found that the pelleted diet allowed the mass‐rearing of A. ludens and A. obliqua. Moreover, feeding larvae with pelleted diet led to increased weight of the larva by 7.4 and 11.8%, and of the pupa by 9.5 and 16.7% for A. ludens and A. obliqua, respectively, compared to conventional diet. For process evaluation, the number of activities, handling time, reception, storage, and larval diet preparation were recorded. The pelleted diet only needed soaking in water containing preservatives, thereby simplifying the mass‐rearing process and saving time, space, and labour. Pelletizing is a versatile technology that can be adjusted for better physicochemical quality and reduced microbiological risk. This diet should be of particular interest for the mass‐rearing process in ‘sterile insect technique’ applications.

Host-specific demography of Utetes anastrephae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), a native parasitoid of Anastrepha spp. fruit flies (Diptera, Tephritidae)

“…Another reason may be the better adaptation and more stability of A. ludens to mass rearing conditions. Compared with A. obliqua, it has been, easier to colonize and maintain under laboratory conditions (Orozco-Dávila et al 2017;Aceituno-Medina et al 2020).…”

Improvement of the Mass-Rearing Protocols for the South American Fruit Fly for Application of the Sterile Insect Technique

“…Improving the mass-rearing techniques of a target insect pest species is a critical step for the implementation of the SIT, as it may allow high production of good quality insects at the lowest possible cost [ 28 ]. In the genus Anastrepha , some species have been successfully mass-reared, such as A. suspensa and Anastrepha ludens in the United States [ 42 , 43 ]; A. ludens , Anastrepha obliqua , and Anastrepha serpentina in Mexico [ 44 , 45 , 46 ]; and A. fraterculus in Argentina and Brazil [ 15 , 17 ]. However, the mass-rearing system developed in Brazil for A. fraterculus was not optimal as the reported mean egg–pupa recovery was only 17% [ 17 ].…”

“…The soft texture of the diet and low pH were probably not a problem, because feeding larvae tunneled freely in the diet, and their guts can vary from acidic to neutral in nature (pH 3–7) [ 57 , 63 , 64 ]. The higher contents of crude proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids ( Table S2 ), or even other factors related to changes in nutrient interactions or bioavailability provoked by cooking with boiling water [ 46 , 57 ], might have affected larval development more. The rearing scale is also another important factor to consider as Embrapa’s diet had been previously used only in small containers, usually with 500–700 g of diet, at Vacaria (Barros, personal communication).…”

Insects in production – an introduction

“…Female size and fecundity are significantly reduced on the artificial diets indicating that some crucial components were still missing from the formulations. In another study, Aceituno‐Medina et al (2020) measured the fitness of fruit flies A. ludens and Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart) (Diptera: Tephritidae) on two artificial diets. These flies are important pests in the fruit industry and mass reared for SIT application.…”