Artificial diets to increase performance in augmentative biological control
Supplementing the diets of adult synovigenic* parasitoids has been shown to increase fecundity and longevity. Tamarixia triozae (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) is a parasitoid of Bactericera cockerelli (Hemiptera: Triozidae, EPPO A1 List) which is a vector of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’. To evaluate the effect of artificial diets on T. triozae fitness and oviposition, colonies of B. cockerelli and T. triozae were established in the laboratory and fed with varying diets (honey, water, yeast and the host alone and in combinations). Adults which were fed with only honey for four days, or with water or yeast for one day followed by host feeding for three days had similar longevity and lifetime pest killing ability. Adults which were fed with only water for one day before being released had a higher daily fecundity. Adults fed with honey or yeast for one day followed by host feeding for three days had a lower rate of oviposition. The results suggest that a honey diet may allow at least four days for successful shipment of host-deprived adults without compromising biological control effectiveness. Additionally, releasing host-deprived adults with one day water feeding may achieve rapid pest suppression when the pest population density is high. Finally, releasing host-deprived adults with one-day honey or yeast feeding followed by three-day host feeding can increase establishment success when the pest population density is low.
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* Synovigenic: parasitoids that do not have a full complement of eggs at eclosion and that continue to mature them throughout adult life; females require host-supplied nutrients for egg production (American Entomological Institute, http://www.amentinst.org/glossary.php).
Sources
Chen C, He XZ, Zhou P, Wang Q (2022) Diets for Tamarixia triozae adults before releasing in augmentative biological control. BioControl 67, 297-306.