Effect of diet containing soybean meal on life table parameters of the flour moth, Ephestia kuehnielle Zeller (Lep: Pyralidae)

عنوان دوره: دومین کنگره بین المللی حشره شناسی ایران

The Mediterranean flour moth (MFM), Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lep: Pyralidae) is a Polyphagous Pest, and its eggs and larvae are widely used to rear some important biological control agents. The effect of diets containing 30% soybean meal and the standard diet including a mixture of wheat flour (68%), wheat bran (29%) and 3% yeast, were studied on life history traits and life table parameters of E. kuehniella by using the Two-sex, Age-stage life table theory. The experiment was conducted at 24 h darkness, 25±1ºC and 65±5% RH. Soybean meal is selected in diet because of considerable amount of proteins and its cheap price. The results show that the total pre-adult developmental time in the diet containing 30% soybean meal (46.47 days) is significantly longer than the standard diet (44.99 days). Although soybean meal significantly increased the fecundity (451.77 eggs) compared to the standard diet (393.2 eggs). However, no significant differences found between the life table parameters except the mean generation time (T) being 49.10 and 47.33 days in soybean meal and standard diet, respectively. The intrinsic rate of increase (r) for soybean meal and standard diet was 0.108 day-1 and 0.109 day-1, respectively. Although the net reproduction rate (R0) in soybean meal (207.28 offspring) was higher than the control (174.75 offspring), the difference was not significant. Therefore soybean meal could be considered for mass rearing of E. kuehniella. Besides, further study is necessary in associated with MFM eggs/larvae quality for biocontrol agents which are reared on their.

artificial diet؛ soybean meal؛ biological control؛ life table