Feeding of adults of the parasitoid wasp, Habrobracon hebetor (Hym., Braconidae) from different concentrations of glucose, fructose, and sucrose in the absence of host larvae and its effect on their longevity under laboratory conditions

Subject Areas : entomology and othea arthropods

M. Yazdanian ¹ , H. Khabbaz Saber ²

1 - Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Plant Production, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran
2 - Graduated Student, Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Plant Production, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

Received: 2011-12-31 Accepted : 2012-09-01 Published : 2013-05-22

Keywords:

Abstract :

Adults of many parasitoid insects need carbohydrates as a source of energy. Carbohydrate feeding increases the longevity, fertility and parasitism rate, significantly. In this study, the effect of different concentrations (0, 10, 30, 50, and 70 percent) of three sugars in the absence of the Mediterranean flour moth larvae was evaluated on the male and female adults of the parasitoid wasp, Habrobracon hebetor Say (Hym.; Braconidae), under laboratory conditions (25±2ºC; 60±5% R.H., L14:D10). Based on the obtained results and compare to the control (distilled water), sugar feeding treatments were significantly increased the male and female adult longevity of the parasitoid wasp. In the case of glucose, male and female adults mean longevity was significantly lower than those of two other sugars. Thus, the suitability of sugars was ordered as fructose> sucrose> glucose. For males, the optimum concentration of all three sugars was 50 percent, but for females, the optimum concentrations were 30 percent of fructose, 50 percent of sucrose, and 70 percent of glucose, respectively. Furthermore, the response of adult longevity to different concentrations of fructose had a more stable trend comparing the two other sugars. Orthogonal comparison of adult males' longevity versus females showed that no significant difference between the overall means of males and females longevity was observed. It means that both sexes had the same longevity. Based on the overall ANOVA results, sugar concentrations affected the male longevity more than that of females. These differences attributed to differential nutritional requirements and behaviors of males and females. The above-mentioned results indicate the importance of sugar feeding by adult H. hebetor.