Effect of various cereal hosts on population growth traits of the mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella Zeller Lepidoptera: Pyralidae

The Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), is one of the world’s most significant pests of stored products. E. kuehniella eggs and larvae are widely used in rearing parasitoids and predators for biological control programs. The purpose of this study was to look at the effects of various cereal hosts and cultivars, including wheat (Meraj, Paya and Aftab cultivars), barley (Oxin, Faraz and Fardan cultivars), rice (Hashemi cultivar), maize (704 Hybrid), sorghum (Spidfit cultivar), rye (Danko cultivar) and millet (Morvaridi cultivar) on life history variables, biological characteristics and population growth parameters of E. kuehniella. In addition, biochemical (protein and starch contents) and physical (humidity and hardiness index) characteristics of the cereal hosts were evaluated to understand any possible correlation between important demographic parameters and biochemical and biological features of the cereal hosts.

The E. kuehniella larvae were reared in a growth chamber at 26 ± 2°C, 60 ± 5% RH, and a photoperiod of 14:10 (L:D) hours on each cereal host. The duration of each stage, developmental period, and survival rate were observed and recorded daily. TWOSEX-MS Chart was used to analyze the life table parameters of E. kuehniella. The biochemical metabolites of cereals were measured using Bradford’s (1976) and Bernfeld’s (1955) methods.

Our findings showed that various kinds of cereal significantly impact the life history and demographical parameters of E. kuehniella. The millet host had the longest development time (66.57 days), while the rice and maize hosts had the shortest on Paya and Aftab cultivars. Total fecundity (mean number of eggs laid during the reproductive period) of E. kuehniella varied significantly depending on the hosts tested. The lowest fecundity values were observed on the millet host (49.10 ± 2.92 eggs), while the highest was on the maize host (136.18 ± 7.36 eggs). The maize host had the highest intrinsic rate of increase (0.067 day-1), and the millet host had the lowest (0.033 day-1) host. Significant differences in physical characteristics and biochemical metabolites were observed between the various hosts in this study. Furthermore, significant positive or negative associations were discovered between different hosts’ life history variables and humidity percentage, hardiness index, protein, and starch contents.

According to the findings, sorghum (Spidfit cultivar) and millet (Morvaridi cultivar) were the least suitable (relatively resistant) hosts for E. kuehniella growth. In contrast, wheat (Meraj cultivar) a