New Artificial Diet for Continuous Rearing of the Bean Pod Borer,Maruca vitrata

Abstract

The bean pod borer, Maruca vitrata Fabricius (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), is a serious pantropical pest of grain legumes. A suitable artificial diet is desirable for producing uniform insects for commercial purposes or research. Three previously described artificial diets, 1 newly-developed artificial diet, and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. (Fabales: Fabaceae)), the natural hostplant of M. vitrata, were used for rearing M. vitrata, and the life parameters were examined. The results indicated that insects completed a full life cycle only when the larvae were fed cowpea or the diet reported by Onyango and Ochieng'-Odero (1993), called the “D-OO diet.” However, the rearing efficiency (i.e., larval and pupal survival, longevity of adults, and fecundity) on the D-OO diet was inferior to the rearing efficiency on cowpea. Subsequently, a new artificial diet was formulated based on soybean powder, Glycine max (L.) Merr. (Fabales: Fabaceae), and wheat germ, Triticum aestivum L. (Poales: Poaceae). The egg production, egg hatching, larval developmental duration, and pupal survival of the M. vitrata reared on the new artificial diet were found to be significantly improved relative to the D-OO diet, but were not significantly better than on the host-plant cowpea. The optimum rearing density was 15–25 larvae per box. There were no significant changes in reproductive potential after 8 successive generations of rearing on the new diet. These results indicated that the newly developed diet could serve as a viable alternative to cowpea plant for continuous rearing of M. vitrata.

Refinement and evaluation of artificial diet for rearing of legume pod borer, Maruca vitrata Geyer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

“…These results implies that, the new artificial diet based on pigeonpea flour, leaf, flower, flower bud, tender pod powder and proportionate increased vitamins composition could be used as an alternative to natural hosts for rearing purposes. Our findings were in close agreement with Wang et al (2013) who reported many factors in the rearing process could affect the performance of M. vitrata on artificial diet, e.g., proportions of different nutritional ingredients, physical conditions of the diet (including moisture levels and irregularities of the diet surface), microbial contamination, several specific compounds, and environmental conditions in culture rooms.…”

“…This was followed by 30.6 ± 3.1, 26.6 ± 4.1, 21.8 ± 2.1 and 18.8 ± 1.1 in modified D-OOD, D-OOD, D-NEW and D-OO diet, respectively. These findings are in close agreement with Wang et al (2013) who reported rearing of M. vitrata for 8 successive generations without decline in the performance on new artificial diets and partially line with Onyango and Ochieng-Odero (1993) who reported that Maruca reared on soybean flour and cowpea flower powder as base ingredients in semi-synthetic diet for 10 successive generations.…”

“…The Incubation period was 2.6 ± 0.46 and 2.85 ± 0.40 days respectively on D-OOD diet (artificial diet) and host plant (Table 3). These findings were close agreement with the observations made by Wang et al (2013). He reported that average incubation period of 2.2 ± 0.4 days on soybean based artificial diet.…”

“…Our research findings were in agreement with Liu et al (2006) reported that, there was total larval duration of Maruca occupied an 13.1 ± 0.6 days on when rearing of the legume-pod borer on improved semi-synthetic artificial diet in Taiwan. Wang et al (2013) who reported larval period was on an average 13 ± 1.2 days on soybean based diet. Total larval duration was occupied with 13.37 ± 1.35 days when Maruca reared on cowpea (Sureja et al 2010) and it was 14.1 ±1.30 days on blackgram (Sonune et al, 2010).…”

Periodical and Age-Related Variation in Sexual Communication of the Legume Pod Borer,Maruca vitrata(Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

“…Maruca vitrata were collected as larvae from infested cowpea in the Cihui farm (Wuhan, China; 30°59'N 114°06'E) and reared on an artificial diet at 26 ± 1°C, and 60 ± 10 % relative humidity with a 14L:10D h photoperiod (lights off at 19:00 and on at 05:00) (Wang et al 2013). Sex-identified pupae were kept inside separate wooden cages (40 cm width × 50 cm length × 30 cm height) under the same environment conditions until moths emerged.…”