With the aim to improve the mass rearing feasibility of tobacco budworm, Helicoverpa armigera Hübner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), design of experimental methodology using Taguchi orthogonal array was applied. To do so, the effect of 16 ingredients of an artificial diet including bean, wheat germ powder, Nipagin, ascorbic acid, formaldehyde, oil, agar, distilled water, ascorbate, yeast, chloramphen...

The West Indian sweetpotato weevil Euscepes postfasciatus (Fairmaire) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is a major pest of sweetpotato Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam (Solanales: Convolvulaceae) in some countries. In order to improve mass-rearing for an eradication program employing the sterile insect technique (SIT), optimal population density of E. postfasciatus in an artificial diet was examined. Six pop...

In recent years there has been considerable interest in laboratory rearing of Toxorhynchites mosquitoes for use as biological control agents (Vongtangswad and Trpis 1980) and foi the assay of dengue viruses (Eshita et al. 1982). Although larvae of these mosquitoes are cannibalistic (Steffan and Evenhuis 1981), mass rearing methods have been described for some species which have yielded pupation...

As an initial step to improve the efficiency of the sterile insect technique applied to eradicate, suppress, and control wild Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart) (Diptera: Tephritidae) in mango producing areas of Mexico, the effect of radiation dose and mass rearing history on male mating performance was examined. Field cage tests in which both male and female laboratory flies were irradiated at diff...

Background: The larvae of Lucilia sericata are efficiently and widely used in maggot therapy. The aim of this study was to investigate some environmental factors that influence the mass rearing of Lucilia sericata as the most suitable candidates for maggot therapy in Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in fli...

A new formula for insect rearing artificial diets without using any of their conventional gelling agents was provided in the present work, for the first time. Larvae of the Egyptian cotton leafworm, Spodoptera littoralis (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) were successfully mass-reared, for nine consecutive generations on an agar-free artificial diet. This suggested medium is based on yellow lentils, Lens...

Experiments were done to determine if transporting live screwworms Cochliomyia hominivorax Coquerel (Diptera: Calliphoridae) for developing new strains from countries where foot-and-mouth disease and classical swine fever are endemic, to the mass rearing facilities in Mexico and Panama, may introduce these exotic diseases into these countries. Are screwworms capable of harboring and spreading f...

Rearing insects for food and feed is a rapidly growing industry, because it provides excellent opportunities sustainable approach to animal protein production. Two fly species, the black soldier (BSF) house (HF), naturally live in decaying organic matter (e.g. compost), can thus be effectively reared on rest streams from agricultural industry. The adoption of these as mini-livestock microbially...

Field metabolic rate (FMR), using the doubly labelled water (DLW) method, was measured in free-ranging adult kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) early and late in the chick-rearing period at Svalbard, Norway. Individual variation in FMR was analysed by comparing FMR with body mass, sex, nest attendance, chick age, brood size, and basal metabolic rate (BMR). Mean FMR of kittiwakes during the chick-rea...

The rapid fixation of a rare allelic form of alpha-glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase is related to a loss of competitive ability in nature of factory-reared screwworm flies. The increase in frequency results from selection for survival under conditions of domestication and rapid development at high constant temperatures in the factory.