Evaluación de cuatro dietas artificiales para la cría de "Spodopetera frugiperda" (Lep.: Noctuidae) destinada a mantener poblaciones experimentales de himenópteros parasitoide

MURUA M. G., E. G. VIRLA, V. DEFAGO. Evaluation of four artificial diets for the rearing of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lep.: Noctuidae) dedicated to maintain experimental populations of parasitoids Hymenoptera. Bol. San. Veg. Plagas, 29: 43-51. Design of artifical diets for experimental or semi-massive rearing of Spodoptera frugiperda is an important strategy for the development of bionomic studies. Component costs of diets determine the feasibility of studies in development countries. Three different composition diets were compared with a control diet previously reported. The main components of the diets were bean flour, red corn flour, broken white corn and rice. We carried out laboratory rearing in order to value the feasibility of use of each diet. We maintained cohorts fed with these diets at 25 ± 2 °C, 70-75% RH and 14 L: 10 D of artificial photoperiod. The parameters obtained were: cost/kg, duration of the different stages and larval instars, longevity, sex ratio, survivorship and life expectancy. Two diets were selected based on the duration of the life cycle and the number of adults. We discussed the opportunity of use each diet according to the objective of the rearing.