Location: Biological Control of Pests Research
Title: Effects of taurine dietary supplement on the biological and demographic parameters of Nezara viridula (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae)Author
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Submitted to: Journal of Insect Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 1/2/2023 Publication Date: 2/2/2023 Citation: Rojas, M.G., Morales Ramos, J.A. 2023. Effects of taurine dietary supplement on the biological and demographic parameters of Nezara viridula (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae). Journal of Insect Science. 23(1):6. https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/iead003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/iead003 Interpretive Summary: The southern stink bug is a major pest of more than 150 species of plants, including cotton, beans, peanuts, strawberries, etc. For this reason, these insects have been reared in the laboratories around the world to facilitate research for their control. Preliminary observations have shown that supplementing N. viridula diet with insect components improves the survival and reproduction of this insect. We hypothesized that taurine could be the nutrient present in insect components that was providing the benefits. Treatments consisting of three different watering regimes: 1) water only (W), 2) 2% taurine solution only (T), and 3) a choice between water and 2% taurine solution (T&W) were compared on their effects to nymphal survival between the first and the fifth stadium. Both taurine-containing treatments (T and T&W) resulted in a significant increase in nymphal survival and pre-mating adult survival and egg viability) as compared with treatment ‘W’). These results suggest that taurine is an important nutrient for N. viridula, which has been deficient in traditional diets consisting exclusively of vegetable components. This new information will help to improve the survival of N. viridula in culture to facilitate his study to develop new methods for its control. Technical Abstract: The Southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae), is a widely distributed pest of many economically important crops. Because of its economic impact, multiple examples of rearing methods and diets for N. viridula have been published. However, rearing this pest year-round consistently in all-vegetable diets has been challenging. Preliminary observations have shown that supplementing N. viridula diet with insect components improves the survival and reproduction of this insect. We hypothesized that taurine could be the nutrient present in insect components that was providing the benefits. Treatments consisting of three different watering regimes: 1) RO water only (W), 2) 2% taurine solution only (T), and 3) a choice between water and 2% taurine solution (T&W) were compared for their effects on life cycle and demographic parameters of N. viridula. Both taurine-containing treatments (T and T&W) resulted in a significant increase in nymphal and pre-mating adult survival and egg viability) as compared with treatment ‘W’). Although there was not significant effect on fecundity and development time increased in the ‘T’ treatment, there were significant improvements in demographic parameters showing an increase in fitness levels after taurine supplementation. These results suggest that taurine is an important nutrient for N. viridula, which has been deficient in traditional diets consisting exclusively of vegetable components. This new information will help to improve the survival of N. viridula in culture to facilitate this study to develop new methods for its control. Keywords: Southern green stink bug, rearing, nutrition, life table, fecundity |
