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THE BERTHA ARMYWORM, MAMESTRA CONFIGURATA (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE). ARTIFICIAL DIET AND REARING TECHNIQUE1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

G. E. Bucher  and
G. K. Bracken
G. E. Bucher
Affiliation:
Research Station, Agriculture Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba
G. K. Bracken
Affiliation:
Research Station, Agriculture Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba
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Abstract

A technique is described for rearing successive generations of the insect in numbers from 200 to 40,000 continuously without diapause. All components of the diet are commercially available and the principal ingredients are of plant origin. Survival at four stages of development is given and the causes of mortality are discussed. The per cent survival of insects from instar III to pupation times the percentage of perfect female pupae obtained at harvest gives a factor considered to be the best measure of the worth of an artificial diet. The variability of these statistics is shown by frequency distributions obtained in 50 independent tests of the diet. Overall survival of 84% times 73% perfect females gave a diet worth factor of 61. An analysis of rearing costs is presented. Although 15 continuous generations have been reared, egg production of the highly selected strain has not deteriorated.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 108 , Issue 12 , December 1976 , pp. 1327 - 1338
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1976

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References

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