DETERMINATION OF ARTIFICIAL DIETS FOR REARING Corcyra cephalonica (LEPIDOPTERA: PYRALIDAE) FOR EGG SUPPLY FOR INDIGENOUS PARASITOID WASPS

Evaluation of artificial diets for rearing Corcyra cephalonica (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) for egg supply for indigenous parasitoid wasps to determine the best mixing formulas of artificial diet made from suitable and reasonable local material resources for development of rice moth, spawning more to provide eggs for indigenous parasitoid wasps was conducted in Plant Protection Division of Southern Horticultural Research Institute, Vietnam. The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design, with 8 treatments and 3 replications, each replication was one box with 100 rice moth eggs and added 25 mg of Streptomyces sulfate for each treatment to prevent bacteria. The results showed that the male moth could survive for 15 days and have longer life span than those of female moth at diet with 125 g of broken rice and 5 g of powdered peanuts. The female could survive for 10 days on a diet consisted of 125 g broken rice, 5 g powdered peanut and 5 g of powdered milk. In addition, the weight of the female moth and the number of eggs laid by a female moth were highest on a diet consisted of 75 g of broken rice, 50 g of rice bran, 5 g of powdered peanut and 5 g of powdered milk. These values were 29.08 mg/female moth and 330 eggs/female moth, respectively. Therefore, the best artificial diet for rearing C. cephalonica was 75 g of broken rice, 50 g of rice bran, 5 g of powdered peanut and 5 g of powdered milk.