Entomology, Department of
Date of this Version
1988
Abstract
Larvae of screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel), were reared on diets with varying concentrations of whole dried bovine blood, whole dried egg, and nonfat dried milk. Pupal weight, egg to pupal survival, adult emergence, sex ratio, fecundity, and fertility were significantly affected by one or more of the dietary components. Curvilinear models for the effect of dietary component concentration on life history parameters were derived by multiple regression. Most models resulted in bell-shaped curves that were used to calculate optimal diet component concentrations. Biomass, survival, emergence, and fecundity were maximized at 6% blood, 5% egg, and 1.3% milk.
Comments
Published in Journal of Economic Entomology 81(2): 562-567 (1988).