Author
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Chang, Chiou |
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Submitted to: Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 5/17/2001 Publication Date: 9/20/2001 Citation: Chang, C.L. 2001. Adult reproductive capacity of ceratitis capitata (diptera: tephritidae) on a chemically defined diet. Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 94(5):702-706. Interpretive Summary: The Mediterranean fruit fly is a worldwide pest of fruits and vegetables. Currently, control measures include the use of insecticides and various biological control methods. One such method (autocidal control) involves the release of sterile males (SIT) that will seek out and mate with non-sterile females. For this to occur, flies are mass-reared, sterilized and released along with the wild population. We are trying to improve the artificial diet used to rear the flies and have come up with a complete chemically defined adult diet (Ceratitis capitata #2 diet with all ingredients in chemical form) for this species. This chemically defined diet is a modification of a larval diet (C. capitata #1 diet) that was previously developed by Change et al (2000). This diet is made up of agar form with vitamins, minerals, amino acids, RNA and etc. Adult fed on this diet was able to produce more comparable quality of eggs than those on control diet while maintaining the similar life span. Using this defined diet is to identify precisely the components that are essential or required to rear the best quality fly and improve SIT including genetic sexing strain. Technical Abstract: A chemically defined diet (Ceratitis capitata #2 diet) for rearing adult Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), Mediterranean fruit fly, was developed by modifying a meridic larval diet (C. capitata #1). The composition (mg per 50 g diet) of the C. capitata #2 diet is: essential amino acids (arginine 106.8; histindine 45.6; isoleucine 56.4; leucine 108; lysine 58.8; methionine 27.6; phenylalanine 70.8; threonine 54; tryptophan 28.8; valine 79.2); nonessential amino acids (alanine 78; aspartic acid 112.8; cystine 40.8; glutamic acid 392.4; glycine 90; proline 124.8; serine 78; tyrosine 48); ribonucleic acid 100; vitamins [thiamin (vitamin B1) 1.0; riboflavin (vitamin B2) 1.0; 1.0; nicotinic acid 2.64; pantothenic acid 1.0; pyridoxine (vitamin B6) 1.0; vitamin B12 0.024; ascorbic acid phosphate (vitamin C) 3.68; vitamin D 12; vitamin E 8.16; biotin 0.1; folic acid 0.25; inositol 253.0; choline chloride 140.0]; anti-microbials (methylparaben 100; sodium benzoate 100; p-amino benzoic acid 1.0; streptomycin 50; tetracycline 5); Cholesterol 80; minerals (McCollum & Davis salt mixture no. 185) 100; citric acid (acidulant) 500; sucrose 8000; distilled water 40000; and agar 400. The C. capitata #2 diet was prepared in two forms, agar and liquid and both showed comparable performance. Adutls reared on the agar diet produced more eggs than those on protein hydrolysate-sugar (1:3) diet. Flies fed on diets lacking nutrient groups such as 10 essential amino acids, eight nonessential amino acids or the combination of cholesterol, inositol and choline produced fewer eggs, and those fed on diet |
