Abstract:

The effects of artificial diet formulation on the adults of Coccinella septempunctata were determined for the purpose of further optimization of the preparation of the artificial diets of C. septempunctata by feeding C. septempunctata adults with two formations, i.e., dry-wet separation (DWS) and microcapsulation (MCS), of artificial diets and measuring the feeding frequency, food intake, mating frequency, oviposition frequency, and eggs deposition. The results showed that the feeding frequency of C. septempunctata adults on the DWS diet (0.72 insects/min) was significantly lower than that on the MCS diet (1.58 insects/min), but the feeding amount on the DWS diet (0.04 g/pair) was significantly higher than that on the MCS diet (0.01 g/pair). There was no significant difference in the mating frequency of C. septempunctata between the two groups. The oviposition frequency and egg deposition in the DWS diet group were 19.00% and 23.40 eggs/female, respectively, significantly higher than the values of 1.00% and 2.40 eggs/female in the counterpart, respectively. In general, the adults of C. septempunctata can feed on both formulations of artificial diet, but the dry-wet separation diet is better than the microcapsule diet.

Key words:

artificial diet, Coccinella septempunctata, dry-wet separation, microcapsuolation, formulation