title: Costly Nutritious Diets do not Necessarily Translate into Better Performance of Artificially Reared Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae).
abstract: Protein, lipid, carbohydrate, and energy contents of three artificial diets (Xal2, Met1, and Met2) used for laboratory-rearing and mass-rearing the Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens (Loew), for a sterile insect technique program were measured. The larval survival, pupation, pupal weight, adult emergence, sex ratio, and flight capacity of the flies reared on each of these diets were also quantified. The diet with the highest nutrient and energy content was Xal2 followed by Met2 and Met1, but larval recovery and percent pupation was significantly higher in flies reared on either the Met1 or Met2 diets. A. ludens reared on Xal2 exhibited the highest proportion of adults capable of flight. No other response variable differed significantly among the three diets tested. This suggests that a high content of nutrients and multiple sources of protein (dried yeast and wheat germ in the case of the Xal2 diet) do not necessarily improve overall performance or fly quality. We conclude that nutritious diets for A. ludens can be modified to reduce their cost without compromising the performance of artificially reared flies.
authors.affiliation: Red de Manejo Biorracional de Plagas y Vectores, Instituto de Ecología, A.C. (INECOL), Carretera antigua a Coatepec 351, El Haya, Xalapa 91070, Veracruz, Mexico. cpascacio@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pascacio-Villafán
authors.affiliation: Red de Manejo Biorracional de Plagas y Vectores, Instituto de Ecología, A.C. (INECOL), Carretera antigua a Coatepec 351, El Haya, Xalapa 91070, Veracruz, Mexico.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, 1600/1700 SW 23rd, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sivinski
authors.affiliation: Red de Manejo Biorracional de Plagas y Vectores, Instituto de Ecología, A.C. (INECOL), Carretera antigua a Coatepec 351, El Haya, Xalapa 91070, Veracruz, Mexico.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Birke
authors.affiliation: Red de Manejo Biorracional de Plagas y Vectores, Instituto de Ecología, A.C. (INECOL), Carretera antigua a Coatepec 351, El Haya, Xalapa 91070, Veracruz, Mexico.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aluja
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed / Q000032:analysis*; D000818:Animals; D033621:Tephritidae / Q000254:growth & development*
keywords: Anastrepha ludens; artificial diet; diet cost; mass rearing; nutrient content