Artificial Rearing of the Red cotton bug, Dysdercus cingulatus using Cotton seed-based Artificial diet (Hemiptera: Pyrrhocoridae)

Preparation and application of an artificial diet on insects often encounter a lot of barriers. The successive proportion of the diet affects the biology and reproduction of the insects. Dysdercus cingulatus (Fabricius 1775). an economically important insect pest infesting most of the Malvaceae plants, has been utilized in many biological researches. Laboratory rearing on natural hosts is a not economically viable, laborious and time consuming. To overcome these constrain, an artificial diet was developed using its natural feed, the cotton seed. D cingulatus developed quickly (17 days) with heavier adult female (148 mg/animals) and maximum fecundity (57 eggs/female) when reared with artificial diet. However, artificial diet reduces nymphal survival rate (10%), adult longevity (3 and 2 days for male and female respectively) and male-biased sex ratio. Furthermore, artificial diet significantly enhances hatchability. Oviposition index and relative growth rate of the pest might be due to the higher carbohydrate, protein and lipid content observed in the artificial diet. It is therefore suggested that the proposed artificial diet be used for artificial rearing of the pest.