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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Biological Control of Pests Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #234112
Title: Life Table and Laboratory Rearing of Nezara viridula (L.) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) on two Artificial Diets

Author
item Portilla, Maribel
item Streett, Douglas

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/4/2008
Publication Date: 11/4/2008
Citation: Portilla, M., Streett, D. A. 2008. Life Table and Laboratory Rearing of Nezara viridula (L.) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) on two Artificial Diets. Meeting Abstract.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (Linnaeus), is a rather destructive pest and has been reported responsible for an estimated $ 6.5 millions dollars in costs associated with crop loss and insecticide costs across the US. A great deal of interest exists in the potential for using artificial diets for the mass rearing of N. viridula. We developed a rearing method to culture N. viridula in two artificial diets including the modified NI diet MNID) and a newly developed artificial diet (ND). N. viridula were successfully reared from egg to adult on both artificial diets. The mean development time for eggs (5.5 ± SE 0.5 (MNID), 5.9 ± SE 0.6 (ND)) and the first nymphal instar (1.9 ± SE 0.03 (MNID), 1.95 ± SE 0.03 (ND)) were not statistically significant for N. viridula. However, the second to fifth nymphal instars and adults had significantly shorter developmental times when reared on MNID. N. viridula started mating 12 days after adult emergence on both diets. Egg masses were first observed 11 days after adult mating for N. viridula reared on MNID and 13 days after adult mating for N. viridula reared on ND. Females reared on MNID had a gross fecundity of 395.8 ± SE 28.7 total progeny / female versus 140.3 ± SE 51.0 total progeny / female reared on the ND. The longevity of N. viridula females (51.2 ± SE 3.6 days) and males (51.6 ± SE 3.4 days) was significantly higher when reared on the MNID versus the ND (29.3 ± SE 2.9 and 29.4 ± 4.4 days for female and male, respectively). Fertility (74.4 ± SE 1.8) and hatchability (64.93 ± SE 1.81) rates were significantly lower for eggs from females reared on the MNID compared with 92.0 ± 2.4% and 94.7 ± SE 1.3 for fertility and hatchability, respectively on ND. Although no significant differences were observed for egg mass size from females reared on either diet (58.8 ± SE 2.2 for MNID and 48.1 ± SE 5.5 eggs for ND). In addition, the reproductive rate for N. viridula reared on MNID was higher than the reproductive rate observed for N. viridula reared on the ND. Both diets were prepared in a single step process. However, the ND was less expensive and required less time for diet preparation than the MNID diet.