An Inexpensive and Effective Larval Diet for Anopheles arabiensis (Diptera: Culicidae): Eat Like a Horse, a Bird, or a Fish?

• Published in: Journal of medical entomology 2012-09, Vol.49 (5), p.1001-1011
• Main Authors: Damiens, D., Benedict, M. Q., Wille, M., Gilles, J.R.L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: adults; Animal and plant ecology; Animal Feed - analysis; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Anopheles - growth & development; Anopheles arabiensis; Autoecology; Aves; Biological and medical sciences; cattle; cost effectiveness; Culicidae; Diet; Diptera; energy; fatty acid; Fatty Acids, Unsaturated - analysis; Female; fish meat; Food and Agriculture Organization; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; insect control; insect pests; Insecta; Invertebrates; koi; Larva - growth & development; larvae; liver; Male; males; Marine; mass rearing; Medically important nuisances and vectors, pests of stored products and materials: population survey and control; response surface methodology; sterile insect technique; Thunnus; tuna; VECTOR CONTROL, PEST MANAGEMENT, RESISTANCE, REPELLENTS; Vectors. Intermediate hosts; Wings, Animal - growth & development
• ISSN: 0022-2585; 1938-2928
• DOI: 10.1603/ME11289

A successful sterile insect technique program depends upon mass production of goodquality sterile insects for release into a target area. Specifically, to control Anopheles arabiensis Patton (Diptera: Culicidae) in a pilot area in northern Sudan, 1 million An. arabiensis sterile males per day are needed. To reach this production objective, mosquito mass rearing is indispensable and larval diet, a key parameter for the production of healthy male mosquitoes, needs to be cost-effective. The Koi Floating Blend fish food, previously used at the Food and Agriculture Organization/International Atomic Energy Agency Insect Pest Control Laboratory for the routine rearing of the An. arabiensis colony, is no longer available. The aim of this study was to find a cheap and effective substitute for the discontinued diet. Several candidate powdered diets that are commercially available were tested to determine the best diet. By using mixture experiment principles and response surface methodology, the combination of two components, bovine liver powder and tuna meal, showed the best results in terms of larval survival, developmental, rate and adult size. The addition of a vitamin mixture further improved the diet. These positive production results coupled with the relatively low cost of our blend demonstrated the possibility of its use for mass rearing purpose.