fecundity

Iranian false spider mite, Cenopalpus irani is one of main pests on apple trees and some fruit trees in Iran. The life table parameters of C. irani were determined on four apple cultivars (Kohanz Golab, Imperial Gala, Lebanon Red, and Granny Smith) under laboratory conditions at 25±1ºC, 60±5% RH, and a photoperiod of 16: 8 h (L: D). The longest and shortest developmental time of immature stages was observed in Kohanz Golab (46.02 days), and Granny Smith (22.60 days), respectively. The lowest and highest survival rate for whole immature stages was 82.85% and 90.00% on Kohanz Golab, and Granny Smith, respectively. The intrinsic rate of increase (r) ranged from 0.041 day-1 on Kohanz Golab to 0.089 day-1 on Granny Smith. The mean generation time (T) on the above-mentioned cultivars was 66.04, 55.28, 48.10, and 34.99 days, respectively. The fecundity was also affected by the cultivars; it was the lowest on Kohanz Golab (29.55 eggs/female) and highest on Granny Smith (37.93 eggs/female). The results of the data analysis of different apple cultivars based on some demographic parameters of C. irani mite showed that Granny Smith and Kohenz Gulab cultivars are the most sensitive and resistant hosts to this pest, respectively. The findings of the present study provide new information to design a more comprehensive IPM program for this pest in apple orchards.

The tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) is one of the most destructive pests of tomato in field and greenhouses. Llife history and population growth of this pest were investigated on three solanaceous plants including four varieties of tomato (Western Red, Matin, Serin, and Rio-Grand), three varieties of eggplant (White-Casper, Ravia, and Pearl-Ground) and three varieties of sweet pepper (Bachata, Lorca, and Nirvin). The developmental time, survival, longevity, and fecundity of the pest on the leaves of tested varieties were investigated. The experiments were conducted at 25 ± 2°C, relative humidity of 65 ± 5% and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L: D) h. The results of the statistical comparison of the varieties within each host plant showed that life table parameters of the insect were not significantly different on tomato varieties and on eggplant varieties. However, among pepper varieties, the net reproductive rate, intrinsic rate of increase, and finite rate of increase rate on variey Lorca were higher than on Nervin and Bachata. The results of comparison among varieties of different hosts showed that the highest immature survival was observed on tomato, varieties Serin and Matin, and the lowest survival was seen on pepper, varieties Lorca and Nirvin. The longest developmental time was obtained on pepper, varieties Bachata and Nirvin. The lowest fecundity and the shortest oviposition period were found on pepper, varieties Bachata and Nirvin. The net reproductive rate, intrinsic rate of increase, and finite rate of increase were lowest on pepper, varieties Bachata and Nirvin, and other varieties showed no significant differences. In general, tomato varieties were susceptible,, and eggplant variety White-Casper and pepper varieties Bachata and Nirvin were partially resistant against T. absoluta. This information provides the possibility of using these varieties in order to manage T. absoluta populations during its outbreak.

The use of artificial diet provides the possibility of continuous mass- rearing of insects throughout the year. In current research, life- table parameters of Cydia pomonella (L.) (Lep.: Tortricidae) on six different diets under laboratory condition (temperature 25 ± 1 °C, 60±5% RH, and 16:8 hours (light: dark) were investigated. Diets include 1) modified version of the diet of Brinton et al. (1969), 2 and 3) modified versions of the diet of Bathon (1981), 4) diet of Fukova et al. (2005), 5) apple, and 6) apple leaf. The results showed that development time of codling moth were longest (51.17 days) with diet one and shortest (48.01 days) with diet six, respectively. The results of the tests also showed that the larval duration, the pupal duration on male, and the adult longevity in both, female and male, had significant differences. The longest pre-oviposition (2.01d) and oviposition (7.21d) periods were found on diet six and five, respectively. The females that fed on diet four (141.2 egg/female) and six (91.3 egg/female) in the larval period produced the highest and lowest eggs, respectively. The highest growth index of all life stages of codling moth was obtained by feeding the diet four. The population parameters indicated that all diets will display growth under the studied conditions, being the mean generation time (T) significantly shorter when using diet four (46.14 days) than others. Based on the preadult and adult results pointing to diet four being a more efficient diet, as well as the fecundity values provided by this diet, suggest that diet four could be improved and used as an alternative to a natural diet shortly.

In the present study, the effect of 15 food diets was studied on the biological parameters of black soldier fly, Hermetia illucensi ncluding chicken starter powder (CSP) (A), CSP (90%) + Cannabis seeds (10%) (B), CSP (90%) + flax seeds (10%) (C), chicken waste powder (CWP) (D), CSP (90%) + CWP (10%) (E), CSP (90%) + meat waste powder (10%) (F), CSP (90%) + fish waste powder (10% ) (G), apple waste (H), banana waste (I), bread waste (J), biscuit waste (K), pasta waste (L), tomato leaves (M), fish waste powder (N) and meat waste powder (O). Experiments were carried out under 28 ± 2 ˚C, 60 ± 10 % R.H. and 16:8 L: D conditions. There was a significant difference in the larval developmental time among different treatments. The highest and lowest larval development time was in diet H (21.902 ±0.206 days) and A (15.098 ± 0.126 days), respectively. Because the mortality was extremely high (100%) in treatments K, J, L, N and O none of the larvae could complete their larval stage. The highest pupa development time was seen in diet H (24.922 ± 0.185 days), which had a considerable difference with all treatments while the lowest pupa developmental time was in diet D (22.216 ± 0.256 days). Furthermore, in the case of longevity, the longest adult life span of the female and male was obtained on treatment D (17.632 ±0.191 and 18.438 ± 0.215 days, respectively) which was significantly more than other diets. The highest larval weight was in treatment I (banana waste) (0.080 ±0.001 gr) but in contrast, the lowest pupal weight was observed in this diet (0.036 ± 0.006 gr). Also, the total fecundity of female flies was in treatment B (554.8 ± 49.4 eggs) which was significantly more than others. It seems that the mixed chicken starter diet with Cannabis seeds has a high potential for mass rearing of this insect since it causes positive effects on the biological characteristics, especially on producing more offspring rather than other food diets.

In this study, the predatory mite Blattisocius mali was evaluated as a candidate predator for the biological control of fungus gnat, Lycoriella auripila in mushroom cultivation salons and greenhouses and its biological characteristics and population parameters were investigated under laboratory conditions at 25 °C, 70±5 % relative humidity and 16:8 h (L:D) photoperiod. The mean of the total pre-adult period in this experiment was 4.45 days and the lifespan of male and female adults was 18.45 and 20.46 days, respectively. The mean of the oviposition days was 13.88 days and the fecundity was 90.96 (eggs/female). Also, the predatory mite, B. mali feeding on the eggs of the L. auripila had a significant intrinsic rate of population increase (r) equal to 0.386 day-1 and its population increased about 44.551 times every 9.882 days. The results of this study showed the B. mali is a potential predator that can grow and reproduce and complete its life cycle fed on the eggs of L. auripila, successfully. Therefore, this predator can act as a suitable and safe biological control agent to reduce the fungus gnat population and be considered as a biological control agent in the integrated control of this pest.

The cowpea weevil Callosobruchus maculatus (Fabricius, 1775) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) is used as a model insect to study various aspects of biology, behavior, or intraspecific competition due to its short life cycle and ease of breeding. In this study, using beans with an egg, the effect of other larvae in adjacent beans and not in the same bean during the growth period has been investigated on the possible feeling of competition in the insect and mating behaviors in adulthood and biological parameters in the F0 and F1 generations. Developmental time, the number of eggs, hatching percentage, adult longevity, and the sex ratio of the next generation were assessed. The results showed that the larvae of the cowpea weevil were able to detect the presence of larvae in the beans that were in contact with their beans, and they changed their behavior in adulthood under its influence. In adulthood, these insects had a successful mating percentage, and a shorter copulation duration than insects raised alone in a container and did not feel the presence of any competitors. Other studied biological parameters (such as mating latency and kick duration) did not change significantly under the influence of treatments. Therefore, insect breeding conditions (the presence of only one bean with one larva inside it in a container or compaction of several beans with a single larva inside each) significantly affect insect mating behaviors in adulthood. This should be considered in the design of various experiments.

The application of pesticides may affect biological characteristics, behavior and efficiency of natural enemies. In this research, sublethal effect of two insecticides imidacloprid and pymetrozine was investigated on the numerical response of Lysiphlebus fabarum (Marshall) under laboratory conditions. The parasitoid wasps (< 12 h old) exposed to residual concentrations of 3.2 and 2586.6 ppm (LC25) of imidacloprid and pymetrozne, respectively in glass vials. After 24 h, six pairs randomly alived parasitoid wasps were selected and each pair were transferred to containers containing seedlings infested by different densities (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64) of the third instar of Aphis fabae Scopoli nymphs. Each density had 15 replications. Mortality and fecundity of the L. fabarum were recorded every 24 h. until the females died. Mean longevity and number of produced mummies during life of parasitoid wasps exposed to LC25 of imidacloprid were significantly lower than control and pymetrozine treatment at most densities of host aphid. According obtained results, imidacloprid had more negative effects than pymetrozine on L. fabarum adults. Therefore, the application of pymetrozine is recommended for integrated control of A. fabae.

Melon aphid Aphis gossypii is one of the economic pests of melon that has a high adaptability to various environmental conditions, including salinity. In this study, the lethal and sub-lethal (LD10) effects of Palizin soap insecticide (0, 450, 696, 1078, 1669, 2583 and 4000 ppm) were investigated on A. gossypii reared on melon seedlings under salinity stress (0, 20, 40 and 60 mM) in a Factorial experiment based on completely random design in growth chamber (25 ± 1°C, %70 ± 5 RH and 16L/8D h photoperiod). Bioassay was performed based on leaf deep bioassay method. The LD50 values after 24 hours were estimated as 1378, 1036, 860 and 749 ppm for treatments, respectively. An inverse relationship was observed between the toxicity of Palizin and increase in salinity. To determine the effect of LD10 of Palizin on aphids, biological parameters of insect fertility in each salinity treatment were determined based on the age-stage, two-sex life table theory. The nymphs had longer development duration in treated aphids than aphids that grew under similar salinity conditions, but adult insects had a shorter longevity and less fecundity. The average of intrinsic rate of increase varied from 0.31 to 0.17 ♀/♀/days-1 and the average of generation time varied from 11.16 to 12.65 days between 0 and 60 mM salinity treatments. Based on the results, Palizin insecticide with salinity stress can be recommended for successful integrated management of aphid on melon under salinity stress conditions.

Anastatus acherontiae is the native egg parasitoid of Streblote siva and Acherontia atropos in Bushehr, southern Iran. The life table parameters and demography of A. acherontiae was studied on S. siva based on the age-stage, two-sex life table under laboratory conditions (a light/temperature cycle of L16h/26°C, D8h/18°C and 65±5% RH) using TWO SEX-MS Chart program. The mean and standard errors of the life table parameters were estimated using paired bootstrap method with 200,000 iterations. Results showed that A. acherontiae was able to complete its development on S. siva eggs. The intrinsic rate of increase, the finite rate of increase, the mean generation time and the net reproductive rate of A. acherontiae on host eggs were 0.059 day-1, 1.06 times per day, 65.48 days and 47.72 offspring per generation, respectively. The valuable data gained on the life table parameters of A. acherontiae can be consider as a candidate classical biological control agent with inundative release for some key pests.

Panonychus citri (McGregor) (Acari: Tetranychidae) is an important pest species in the citrus growing world. Due to broad spectrum chemical pesticides applied on citrus orchards pests, P. citri became an important citrus orchard pest in the north of Iran. In this study, lethal and sub-lethal effects of two biocompatible compounds, citronellol and neem extract, were investigated on different developmental stages of citrus red mite using the potter spray tower method. The results showed that citronellol and neem had high toxicity on egg and larval mite stages with LC50 values of 245.55 and 666.94 mg/L, respectively. The sub-lethal effects of citronellol and neem extract on adult citrus red mite in comparison control significantly reduced fecundity (0.1, 1.5 and 18.03 eggs/female, respectively), fertility (0.066, 1.07 and 17 hatched eggs/female, respectively) and longevity (5.43, 5.86 and 11.83 days, respectively). The results showed appropriate control effects of biomite® and neem extract against early growth stages of the citrus red mite with an environmental protection approach. Therefore, these compounds could be recommended in the program of resistance management of this pest.

The Mediterranean flour moth Anagasta kuehniella (Zeller) is used as a factitious host in mass rearing of biological control agents. In current study, the effect of different photoperiods on developmental time of immature stages and oviposition trends of A. kuehniella wereinvestigated. The experiments were carried out at 25±2oC ,65±5% RH and differents photoperiods including complete darkness, 16L:8D, 14L:10D, 24L:24D for immature stages and complete darkness, 24L:24D, 24L: rest in darkness, 14L:10D, 12L:12D and 12L: rest in darkness for female adult fecundity experiments. Results demonstrate that higher developmental time of embryonic developmental time achieve in full darkness (5.01±0.01 day) and in 24L:24D (5.00±0.02 day) which there was not significant different with others. Also, immature developmental time of A. kuehniella in darkness was significantly shorter (43.42± 0.64) than other treatments. Mean daily oviposition (52.13±3.22 eggs) and the total fecundity (323.60±10.99 eggs) were obtained in full darkness treatment. In according to this research condition, the darkness treatment, comparison with other treatments, is introduced as a best photoperiod for mass rearing of A. kuehniella.

Nabis pseudoferus is a major biocontrol agent of sucking pests and caterpillars. Life history parameters, consumption rate and cold storage of N. pseudoferus on three diets; Aphis gossypii, Ephestia kuehniella eggs, and Aphis gossypii + Ephestia kuehniella eggs were estimated at 25 ± 1°C temperature, 60 ± 10% R.H. and a photoperiod of 16:8 h. (L:D). The results revealed that the intrinsic rate of increase (r) were 0.033 ± 0.003, 0.043 ± 0.003 and 0.062 ± 0.002 day-1 which was significantly different in terms of feeding diets. Data analysis showed that the net predation rate (C0) of N. pseudoferus by feeding on cotton aphid and mixed diets of cotton aphid + Ephstia kuehniella eggs were 1347.95 ± 276.77 and 2259.62 ± 145.54, respectively. Additionally, hatching rate of N. pseudoferus eggs after cold storage at 5°C for 7, 14 and 21 days were 72.22, 69.23 and 69.23%, respectively. These results could be useful for optimizing rearing procedure of N. pseudoferus.

Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley is a global pest which recently causing serious damage to various crops and ornamental plants such as hibiscus shrubs in southwestern Iran. The field biology of this pest was investigated in Dezful during 2015-2016 season. Results indicated that in Dezful, P. solenopsis passes 11 generations per year. The first generation begins from early March to early April, and the 11th generation ends in the mid-March. The mealybug activities did not stop during the winter. The 8th generation was the shortest one which lasted 28.71±1.39 days from the late September to the mid-October. The longest generation time was also the 2nd one (47.47±0.79 days), from early April to early May. The reproduction parthenogenetically occurred, and females produced eggs and crawlers. The highest fecundity was163.11±3.11 offspring per female with the highest ovipositional period (4.41±0.14days) in the 4th generation in summer. The lowest fecundity (1.67±0.12offspring) was in the 11th generation in winter. The female longevity was significantly different among various generations, from 13.79±2.03 days in 11thgeneration to 26.12±0.70 days in 2nd generation. Males lived in a short time (1 to 2 days). The present study confirms that P. solenopsis has a rapid development, high fecundity with a pattern of crawlers’ production, and the ability to adapt to the unconditional warm and dry climate of Dezful. Unfortunately, due to lack of management, and a wide range of host plants, it could be a serious threat for farmlands, greenhouses, and urban areas in Khuzestan province.

Tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta Meyrick is an invasive quarantine pest that causes high losses on tomato crops in Iran. Predatory bug, Nesidiocoris tenuis Reuter is cosidered recently as potential biological control agent of T. absoluta. In this study, some biological attributes of N. tenuis were stuided on the eggs of T. absoluta at 25±0.5˚C, 65±5% RH, and 16: 8 h (L: D) photoperiod. A food supply of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 prey eggs was provided as high density (above satiation level) for the five nymphal stages and adult N. tenuis, respectively. The prey densities of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 eggs were used as intermediate density (satiation level) and 2, 5, 7, 10, 12 and 15 prey eggs as low density (under satiation level) for the same developmental stages and finaly a no prey treatment also was included. The developmental time of immature stages, male longevity and females longevity were 21.62±0.19, 18.2±1.02 and 24.21±1.70d on upper prey density respectively. The average fecundity was 100.71±16.26 nymphs on the same treatment. Net reproduction rate (R0), intrinsic rate of increase (r), and mean generation time (T) were 40.57±10.48 nymphs/generation, 0.119±0.009 d-1and 30.88±0.543 d respectively. The bugs developed no more than 2nd nymphal stage on tomato leaves without prey supply. All life table parameters significantly affected by prey density. These results suggest that N. tenuis can persist in suboptimal condition and continue control of tomato leafminer as long as prey reservoirs are not fully depleted.

In this study, the effects of four diets including standard food (68% wheat flour, 29% wheat bran and 3% yeast) and standard diets with oil additives including 10% palm oil, glycerin oil and pumice oil was studied on biological properties of Mediterranean flour moth. The study was carried out in a rearing chamber set at 25 ± 1 °C, relative humidity of 65 ± 5% and complete darkness. The fecundity rate was recorded (264.31 egg 250.54 egg and 335.03 egg in the diet containing pumice oil, glycerin oil and palm oil respectively that was significantly lower than standard diet (393.2 egg). There were significant differences in intrinsic rate of population increase (r) among diets, diets containing pumice oil (0.092 day-1), palm oil (0.101 day-1), glycerin (0.099 day-1) and standard food (0.109 day-1). Net reproduction rate (R0) in standard food (174.75 offspring /individual) was not significantly different from palm diet (127.31 offspring /individual), but significantly higher than pumice diet (76.65 offspring /individual) and glycerin diet (102.27 offspring /individual). Insect’s longevity in standard diet (52.86 day) was not significantly different from glycerin added diet (54.08 day) and palm (49.17 day) but the remaining diet had a meaningful difference. Therefore, diets containing palm, glycerin and pumice oil did not have much more efficiency than standard food for use in artificial diet based rearing this insect.