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Title: EFFECT OF AMINO ACIDS ON LARVAE AND ADULTS OF CERATITIS CAPITATA (WIEDEMANN) (DIPTERA: TEPHRITIDAE)

Author
item Chang, Chiou

Submitted to: Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/11/2003
Publication Date: 5/15/2004
Citation: Chang, C.L. 2004. Effect of amino acids on larvae and adults of ceratitis capitata (wiedemann) (diptera: tephritidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 97(3):529-535.

Interpretive Summary: The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), a worldwide pest, has been mass reared for successful SIT program all over the world. Conditions for the nutrition of insects are of special value in the success of insect mass rearing programs. Inadequate or excessive nutrition usually results in great changes in the metabolism, behavior, and other characteristics of insect vital activity. These changes inevitably depreciate subsequent insect release. An ability to provide optimal nutrition will greatly affect both expenditures for insect production as well as colony quality. Dr. Chang has developed several diets and proved to perform as well as those reared on natural diets. In this study, Dr. Chang investigated the effect of essential amino acids (EAA) and non-essential amino acids (NEAA) on larvae and adult performance of C. capitata to further identify their importance based on a previous developed meridic larval diet (Ceratitis capitata #1) (only contain one non-chemically defined ingredient) and a completely chemically defined diet (Ceratitis capitata #2). Ceratitis capitata larvae had no survival when fed with diets free of ten EAAs or containing nine amino acids with removal of one of each of the ten EAAs. However, when larvae reared on a diet lacking all eight of the NEAAs, or either glycine or serine, they did survive, but exhibited significantly delayed larval development. Adults, which fed on a diet lacking all ten EAAs or all eight NEAAs, did not have an effect on adult survivorship, sexual maturity or egg hatch, but egg production significantly reduced. Removal of any of EAAs from adult diets respectively decreased egg production significantly.

Technical Abstract: Using the grouping and individual deletion method to identify the importance of amino acids on larvae and adults based on the following parameters: Larval development period, pupal recovery, adult emergence, pupal weight, percent flier, egg hatch, pre- and post-oviposition egg production. Data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance using the ANOVA procedure of the SAS statistical analysis software package with honestly significant difference (HSD).