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Comparative study of development, survival and reproductive performances of Coccinella septempunctata and Hippodamia convergens feeding on artificial diets

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Abstract

Coccinella septempunctata (Linnaeus) and Hippodamia convergens (Guérin Méneville) are important predators of many pests of agricultural crop importance. Feeding these predators with artificial diets (ADs) is an important means to achieve large-scale production. In this study, the effects of five different artificial diets on the development, survival and reproduction of the two predators were evaluated under laboratory conditions (26 ± 2 °C, 60% RH, and 12:12 (L:D) h). The artificial diets consisted of various main ingredients, including barley flour (BF-AD), soybean flour (SF-AD), potato flour (PF-AD), frozen aphids (FA-AD), and milk powder (MP-AD). Both predators successfully underwent their entire development on all of these formulated artificial diets. The results of this study show that the black bean aphid (Aphis fabae (Scopoli)) and artificial diets SF-AD and PF-AD appear to be the most suitable for mass rearing of the predators. These diets decreased the total pre-adult development period, increased female and male longevity, significantly increased larval and pupal survival rates, adult emergence and weight, oviposition period, and fecundity, and significantly decreased the pre-oviposition period compared to the other artificial diets tested. Similarly, the data showed that the highest values of growth index and success index were obtained with the predators fed the black bean aphid diet (9.6–15.0 and 1.0–1.0, respectively), followed by artificial diets SF-AD (9.1–13.5 and 0.9-1.0, respectively) and PF-AD (8.3–10.7 and 0.8–0.9, respectively). The artificial diets, particularly SF-AD and PF-AD, can be used for mass rearing of C. septempunctata and H. convergens for biological control applications and adult rearing during aphids scarcity.

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Funding

The research of this study was supported by the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA), Morocco.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Regional Center of Agronomic Research of Settat, Tertiary Road 1406, At 5 Km from Settat, 26400, Settat, Morocco

    Mohamed El Aalaoui

  2. Plant Protection Department, National Institute of Agricultural Research, 10000, Ennasr, Rabat, Morocco

    Mohamed Sbaghi

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  1. Mohamed El Aalaoui
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  2. Mohamed Sbaghi
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Mohamed El Aalaoui. conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, prepared figures, and wrote the main manuscript text ; Mohamed Sbaghi. supervision, visualization, and review of the article. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mohamed El Aalaoui.

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El Aalaoui, M., Sbaghi, M. Comparative study of development, survival and reproductive performances of Coccinella septempunctata and Hippodamia convergens feeding on artificial diets. Int J Trop Insect Sci 43, 1957–1966 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42690-023-01095-3

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