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This study examined the impact of diet protein and carbohydrate percentages as well as moisture on the immature development, survivorship, and resulting adult longevity and egg production of the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens (L.) (Diptera: Stratiomyidae). Moisture impacted development and corresponding life-history traits more than protein:carbohydrate content; larvae were unable to develop on diets at 40% moisture. Larvae fed diets at 70% moisture developed faster, grew larger, and required less food than those reared on diets at 55% moisture. Larvae reared on the balanced diet (21% protein:21% carbohydrate) at 70% moisture developed the fastest on the least amount of food and had the greatest survivorship to the prepupal stage. Adult emergence and longevity were similar across treatments, indicating immature life-history traits were impacted the most. The control (Gainesville house fly) diet was superior to the artificial diets for all parameters tested. These differences could indicate that other constituents (e.g., associated microbes) serve a role in black soldier fly development. These data are valuable for industrialization of this insect as a “green” technology for recycling organic waste, which can be highly variable, to produce protein for use as feed in the livestock, poultry, and aquaculture industries, as well as for bioenergy production.

The Spodoptera frugiperda multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (SfMNPV) has been studied and applied in controlling the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda. This pest serves as the primary host for in vivo replication of this biological control agent. For viral inoculation, the virus is introduced into an artificial diet, which is also used for large-scale host multiplication. In this study, we tested more cost-effective diets to optimize the viral inoculation stage. Each diet was treated with the virus and monitored daily for host mortality. Viral production parameters were subsequently quantified. Although the evaluated diets did not achieve the same yield levels as those used for large-scale S. frugiperda multiplication, the D7 diet showed similar cost-effectiveness to the D2 diet in terms of producing one dose per hectare. Additionally, larvae consuming diets higher in crude protein exhibited reduced viral polyhedra production.

In China, Hyphantria cunea (Drury) is an invasive phytophagous pest; it attacks nearly all species of defoliated trees. To develop integrated pest management programs (IPM) for H. cunea, we need to ensure the availability of insects by mass-rearing them on artificial diets under laboratory conditions. This study compared the growth characteristics, nutritional indices, growth indices, and digestive enzyme activity of insects reared on Pterocarya stenoptera C.DC (Fagales: Juglandaceae), the Chinese wingnut, and an artificial diet. We also investigated the correlation between diet components and growth indices using principal components analysis and Pearson correlation analysis. We found that mass-rearing of H. cunea on an artificial diet was feasible. It led to a shorter developmental period, with heavier larvae and pupae than natural diets. The principal components analysis indicated that the growth indices and α-Amylase were significantly positively associated with PC1, which explained 82.45% of the total data variability. Pearson correlation analysis showed a significant correlation between digestion, absorption parameters, and growth. Developing a mass-rearing program to produce H. cunea on an artificial diet will be valuable for improving IPM strategies. Understanding the mechanism of the responses of phytophagous insect populations to anthropogenic diet regulation can provide new ideas and methods for pest control.

The release of the egg parasitoid Telenomus podisi (Ashmead) for the management of Euschistus heros (Fabricius) in soybean (Glycine max Linnaeus) is a biological control strategy currently employed in Brazil. Although mass rearing of the host has already been established in commercial systems, optimizing diet composition remains essential to increase effciency and reduce production costs. This study aimed to evaluate the development of E. heros on fve different diets: a natural diet consisting of beans and peanuts (T1); a lyophilized pod-based diet (T2); a mixture of peanuts and soybeans (T3); a combination of fresh pods and grains (T4); and a formulation based on grains and oils (T5). Experiments were conducted under controlled and standardized conditions. The following parameters were evaluated: duration and survival from egg to adult, female productivity (eggs per female), couple survival, and egg viability. In the parental generation (F0), diets T2 and T3 exhibited nymph and egg viability comparable to T1, with accelerated development. Diet T4 showed the highest egg viability and rapid nymph development, but also high mortality, indicating low attractiveness. Diet T5 was excluded due to signifcantly lower performance across all parameters. In the ffth generation (F5), T2 was eliminated due to its high production cost. No signifcant differences were observed in the duration of the nymphal phase between the remaining treatments (T3 and T4). For the other parameters, T4 yielded the best results, indicating high adaptability of the insect to this diet. T3 also produced good outcomes, comparable to or even surpassing those of the natural diet (T1). Therefore, diets T3 and T4 proved suitable for the mass rearing of E. heros after adaptation.

Artificial diets applied in the mass-rearing propagation of H. axyridis can improve reproductive ability by optimizing the feeding formula. This study used transcriptome data to investigate the effects of various artificial diets on the growth and development of H. axyridis. Results indicate that spawning increased with the low-fat and JH III-supplemented artificial diet (Diet 3). Furthermore, the highest glycogen content found in Diet 3 was significantly different from the other two groups. Triglyceride content decreased as adult feeding time increased in the three artificial diet groups, with the fastest decrease observed in the low-fat diet (Diet 2). Protein content increased gradually in the high-fat diet (Diet 1) group compared to the other treatment groups. The adults reared on low-fat artificial diets, when compared to those on artificial diets supplemented with juvenile hormones at the transcriptome level, were found to have upregulated genes enriched in ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis, ribosome biogenesis, and the hedgehog signaling pathway. In contrast, the genes upregulated in the latter group were enriched in oxidative phosphorylation, amino acid biosynthesis, and the metabolism of other amino acids. The results suggest that nutritional status significantly affects the growth and development of H. axyridis and has practical implications for the artificial feeding of natural pest enemies.

Cannibalism is a frequent behavior in Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith, 1797) larvae either in the field or in a laboratory. The purpose of this work was to investigate the factors temperature and food quantity on the cannibal behavior in instars of this insect under laboratory conditions. The neonates were conditioned at temperatures of 22, 25, 28 and 31 ± 1°C until they reached the 3rd, 4th, and 5th instar. The number of 20 larvae were transferred to different gerbox® with the amount of food varying from 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 g of artificial diet. Cannibalism was evaluated after 72 hours. In all the instars evaluated, the larvae showed cannibalistic behavior as a function of temperature and amount of food. The amount of 15 g of artificial diet is sufficient to feed the 3rd and 4th instar larval for 72h, regardless of temperature. For the 5th instar this amount is 10 g.

Artificial diets for silkworms overcome the seasonal limitations of traditional rearing methods with fresh mulberry leaves. However, the current wet artificial diets, steamed at high temperatures, are not favored by silkworms, and they are cumbersome and challenging to preserve. These conditions adversely affected the development of artificial diet-based sericulture production. In this study, we disinfected dry powder diets with radiation and added distilled water without steaming before use. Then, the nutritional value of finished diets and their impact on silkworm development was assessed. Compared with steamed diets, nonsteamed diets were more attractive to silkworms. Chemical assays showed significantly more essential nutrients for silkworms, including L-ascorbic acid, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, and urease in nonsteamed diets than in steamed diets. Feeding fifth-instar silkworm larvae with nonsteamed diets significantly improved the ammonia utilization efficiency of the diet and increased the cocoon shell rate and diet/silk protein conversion efficiency by 5.9% and 13.3%, respectively. When fed with nonsteamed diets, the abundance of aerobic microorganisms in silkworm intestines increased and the abundance of pathogenic bacteria decreased. Furthermore, the vitality of the silkworm, measured by the dead worm cocoon rate, significantly improved by 16.90%. In summary, preparing sterile wet diets without high-temperature steaming effectively improved the nutritional value of the diet and enhanced silkworm growth. Graphical Abstract

Spodoptera exigua has emerged as a globally agricultural pest due to its strong adaptability to diverse nutritional conditions. In this study, we used artificial diets with a protein-to-carbohydrate (P:C) ratio of 1:1 as the control and examined the effects of extreme nutritional imbalances (P:C = 1:7 or 7:1) on survival and the activities of nine enzymes in third-stage larvae. The results showed that survival rates of larvae in both unbalanced diet groups were lower than those in the control group. High-carbohydrate-low-protein diets enhanced carboxylesterase, polyphenol oxidase, superoxide dismutase, peroxidase and three digestive enzymes (trypsin, amylase, lipase), cope with overeating and peroxide accumulation. The high-protein-low-carbohydrate diet exclusively increased lipase activity, confirming that larvae compensate for carbohydrate deficiency through lipid mobilization. These findings provide novel insights into polyphagy mechanisms in S. exigua, establishing a theoretical basis for predicting pest dispersal and developing control strategies.

Diet quality widely affects the survival, development, fecundity, longevity, and hatchability of insects. We used the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella (Linnaeus) to determine the effects of the antifungal, antibiotic terbinafine on some of its' biological parameters. The effects of terbinafine on malondialdehyde (MDA) and protein carbonyl (PCO) contents and the activity of the detoxification enzyme, glutathione S-transferase (GST), in the midgut of seventh-instar larvae of G. mellonella were also investigated. The insects were reared on an artificial diet containing terbinafine at concentrations of 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, and 1 g. The survival rates at all development stages of G. mellonella were significantly decreased at all terbinafine concentrations. The females from a control diet produced 82.9 ± 18.1 eggs; however, this number was significantly reduced to 51.4 ± 9.6 in females given a 0.1 g terbinafine diet. The highest concentration of terbinafine (1 g) completely inhibited egg laying. Terbinafine significantly increased MDA content and GST activity in the midgut tissue of seventh-instar larvae in a dose-dependent manner. Relative to controls, these low dietary concentrations of terbinafine significantly increased midgut PCO content; a 0.1 g terbinafine concentration raised PCO content from 155.19 ± 21.8 to 737.17 ± 36.4 nmol/mg protein. This study shows concentration-dependent effects on the biological traits of the greater wax moth G. mellonella, including the oxidative status and detoxification capacity of the midgut. Low terbinafine concentrations may be possible for use as an antifungal agent in insect-rearing diets.

Given the growing interest in manipulating microbiota to enhance the fitness of mass-reared insects for biological control, this study investigated the impact of an artificial diet on the microbiota composition and performance of Orius strigicollis . We compared the microbiota of  O. strigicollis  fed on an artificial diet and moth eggs via culturing and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Subsequently, we assessed life history traits and immune gene expression of O. strigicollis fed on the artificial diet supplemented with Pantoea dispersa OS1. Results showed that microbial diversity remained largely unaffected by the artificial diet, with similar microbiota compositions in both diet groups. OS1, a minor member of the microbiota but significantly enriched in bugs fed on the artificial diet, improved nymphal survival rates and shifted adult longevity-reproduction life history in females. Additionally, OS1 supplementation elevated the transcription of antimicrobial peptide diptericin. According to population parameters, the group receiving OS1 only during the nymphal stage showed higher population growth potential compared to the group supplemented across all life stages. These findings reveal the resilience of O. strigicollis microbiota under distinct dietary conditions and highlight the potential of using natural symbionts and specific supplementation regimes to improve  Orius  rearing for future biocontrol programs.