Larval diet influences development, growth, and survival of mosquitoes in artificial rearing condition

Abstract

The rate of development and survival of insects depend on many biotic and abiotic factors. One of the factor is availability of nutrient at early developmental stages. We showed that these diets differentially influence the speed of larval development, growth and survival in Culex quinquefasiatus mosquito. Our focus was on soybean powder, commercial Protein supplement powder, a mixture of soya bean powder + protein supplement powder (1:1), aquarium fish feed, dog biscuit, dry fish powder. Lowest larval length was observed in dry fish followed by soybean powder diet and highest in protein supplement and dog biscuit diet. We found that percentage of adult emerged after egg hatching had improved with protein supplement, soybean powder and in the mix diet. Carbohydrate to protein ratio and percentage of adult emerged is significant. Development of gut microbiota in mosquito larvae depends on the source and nature of the diet. The effect of larval diet on larval development reported in this article could be mediated by the differences in microbiota load and/or composition.