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ABSTRACT
Four low cost artificial diets for mass rearing the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella L. were compared to the natural food i.e. honey-bee-wax. The results showed that diet 1: (Wheat flour 350 g, corn flour 200 g, milk powder 130 g, backing yeast powder 70 g, honey 100 ml, and glycerin 150 ml), diet 2: (Wheat flour 350 g, corn flour 200 g, milk powder 130 g, backing yeast powder 70 g, honey 100 ml, and sorbitol 150 ml) and the natural food (bee-wax) produced statistically equal numbers and weights of G. mellonella larvae. However, the costs of these two diets were only 55.5 and 44.25 % of the cost of the bee-wax, respectively. These two diets were the best in conversion of consumed food into final weight of produced larvae (7.43 and 9.25 g of consumed diet/g of produced larvae for diets 1 and 2, respectively). G. mellonella larvae, reared from these two diets as well as the bee-wax, produced statistically equal numbers of either S. carpocapsae or H. bacteriophora. This work contributes to make the mass rearing of G. mellonella less expensive with no adverse effects on quantity, quality of produced wax moth larvae or their suitability for rearing entomopathogenic nematodes.
Key words: artificial diet, Galleria mellonella, Steinernema carpocapsae, Heterorhabditis bacteriophora.
INTRODUCTION
The greater wax moth Galleria mellonella L. is known as a serious pest of bee hives and stored bee wax. However, it is widely used in mass production of biological control agents including the entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs). Therefore, a good and less expensive artificial diet is important for mass rearing of G. mellonella. Due to differences in cost and availability of diet constituents and the ability of G. mellonella larvae to adapt to different diets without serious effects on their development (Coskun et al. 2006), many scientists tried to optimize mass production of G. mellonella in different countries. Eischen and Dietz (1990) found that adding 5% pollen; honey or bee wax significantly increased the survival of G. mellonella adults. Aleman and Decal (1995) and Liu et al. (1998) found no significant difference between the bee wax and artificial diets of main constituents: bran, wheat flour, and corn meal on biological parameters of G. mellonella. Aleman et al. (1999) suggested...