Carcass analysis to improve a meat-based diet for the artificial rearing of the predatory mirid bug Dicyphus tamaninii.
Improvement of an existing meat-based diet has been obtained for rearing the generalist predator Dicyphus tamaninii (Heteroptera: Miridae). The approach followed, different from the classical addition/deletion method, was performing biochemical analysis of adult carcasses in order to have information about the nutritional status of the predator. Comparison of total, free amino acids and lipid composition of meat-reared and conventionally reared females allowed detecting some nutritional deficiencies. A reformulated diet with new sources of proteins and lipids was tested again with the predator. Some biological parameters of bugs that were inferior in the initial meat diet when compared with those of the conventionally reared insects, such as nymphal development time and fresh weight, have been improved with the reformulated diet.
Zapata
Rafael
R
Departament de Protecció Vegetal, IRTA-Centre de Cabrils, E-08348 Cabrils, Barcelona, Spain.
Specty
Olivier
O
Grenier
Simon
S
Febvay
Gérard
G
Pageaux
Jean François
JF
Delobel
Bernard
B
Castañé
Cristina
C
D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis; D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary*; D004531:Eggs; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D020062:Heteroptera / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000737:chemistry*; D007915:Lepidoptera; D008460:Meat; D009758:Nymph / Q000502:physiology; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D014026:Nicotiana
D000596:Amino Acids; D005227:Fatty Acids