Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Section of Organismal Biology, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
Insect Sci. 2021 Feb;28(1):191-202. doi: 10.1111/1744-7917.12758. Epub 2020 Jul 30.
The predatory bug, Orius majusculus (Reuter), is an important predator of thrips commercially produced for augmentative releases using the eggs of the Mediterranean flour moth Ephestia kuehniella (Zeller). In this study, we assessed the potential for using frozen adults of fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster (Meigen), either as nymphal rearing diet or as diet throughout the entire life-cycle. We compared life-history traits and reproduction of predators when fed D. melanogaster with high lipid body content (lipid-rich) and with high protein body content (protein-rich), using a diet of 100% E. kuehniella eggs as control. We also analyzed the biochemical composition of both prey and predator in order to assess the nutritional quality of each diet, which partially explained the adequacy of the different diets for O. majusculus. There were significant differences between predators fed the two types of D. melanogaster, with the protein-rich flies as diet providing the best results in terms of mortality and fecundity. Furthermore, we show that while feeding O. majusculus throughout their development with D. melanogaster increases mortality and reduces reproduction, protein-rich D. melanogaster can be used as nymphal diet with minimal reduction in reproductivity and minimal increase in mortality.
捕食性昆虫，稻绿蝽（Reuter），是一种重要的捕食者，用于大量释放地中海粉斑螟（Ephestia kuehniella （Zeller））的卵。在这项研究中，我们评估了使用冷冻成体果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）（Meigen）作为若虫饲养饮食或整个生命周期的饮食的潜力。我们比较了喂食富含脂质体（高脂肪）和富含蛋白质体（高蛋白）的 D. melanogaster 时，捕食者的生活史特征和繁殖情况，以 100％地中海粉斑螟卵为对照。我们还分析了两种猎物和捕食者的生化成分，以评估每种饮食的营养价值，这部分解释了不同饮食对 O. majusculus 的适宜性。以两种类型的 D. melanogaster 喂养的捕食者之间存在显著差异，高蛋白的果蝇作为饮食提供了死亡率和繁殖力方面的最佳结果。此外，我们表明，尽管在用 D. melanogaster 喂养 O. majusculus 的整个发育过程中会增加死亡率并降低繁殖力，但高蛋白的 D. melanogaster 可以用作若虫饮食，对繁殖力的降低和死亡率的增加最小。
