ABSTRACT

The use of factitious food instead of natural prey, and artificial substrates instead of leaf-based, could be important steps towards reducing natural enemies̓ rearing costs. Nutritional values of four factitious foods comprising Ephestia eggs, decapsulated Artemia cysts, mould mite immature individuals, and Aspergillus hyphae as alternative food sources for Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor) were determined under laboratory conditions. In addition, suitability of artificial (plastic sheet) and leaf-based substrates for rearing of the predator was assessed. The duration of egg to adult developmental time was shorter when the predator fed on the mould mite compared with the other diets. Artemia cysts and Aspergillus hyphae were not suitable diets. The individuals reared on the mould mite had the highest fecundity and intrinsic rate of increase (r). Due to weak mouthpart of the immature predator in feeding of factitious foods, most of them died in immature stages, or their fecundity in adult stage was low. In a separate experiment, almond pollen was also used in addition to factitious foods for rearing of immature stages of the predator. The adult stage of these individuals had the ability to feed and oviposit on the factitious foods, and female longevity and fecundity of these individuals were higher on E. kuehniella egg (and after that on mould mite) than the others. In addition, the results indicated that the rearing performance of the predator fed on the same diet was higher on the artificial substrate than the leaf-based one. The potential of alternative foods and artificial substrates for mass production and conservation of N. californicus is a suitable and cheap method.

摘要

使用人造食物代替天然猎物，使用人造基质代替树叶，可能是降低天敌饲养成本的重要步骤。在实验室条件下确定了四种人造食物的营养价值，包括Ephestia鸡蛋、去壳的卤虫孢囊、未成熟的霉螨个体和Aspergillus菌丝作为Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor) 的替代食物来源。此外，还评估了人工（塑料片）和叶基基质在饲养捕食者方面的适用性。与其他饮食相比，当捕食者以霉菌螨为食时，卵到成虫发育的持续时间更短。卤虫囊肿和曲霉菌丝不是合适的饮食。在霉菌螨上饲养的个体具有最高的繁殖力和内在增长率（r）。由于未成熟捕食者在取食人造食物时口器较弱，大多在未成熟阶段死亡，或在成年阶段繁殖力低。在一个单独的实验中，杏仁花粉也被用于饲养未成熟阶段的捕食者的人造食物。这些个体的成年阶段具有以人造食物取食和排卵的能力，并且这些个体在E. kuehniella上的雌性寿命和繁殖力更高鸡蛋（然后是霉菌）比其他鸡蛋。此外，结果表明，以相同饮食喂养的捕食者在人工基质上的饲养性能比以叶为基础的更高。替代食品和人工基质在大规模生产和保护加州猪笼草方面的潜力是一种合适且廉价的方法。