Comparative Study of Nutritional Composition of Tephritid Fruit Fly Larvae Reared on Different Host Fruits พรปวีณ์ มากสาคร รัตนาวดี เทียนโพธิ์ ศุภรดา เจริญศรี และดวงตา จุลศิริกุล

Abstract

The tephritid fruit fly is an importance pest of several fruits and vegetables in Thailand. It causes a huge damage to agricultural products, has an impact on the economy and food security. Therefore, the use of insect pest as a source of alternative protein food, in a replacement of the meat meal, is another method that can be used to control pest population. The comparative study of nutritional composition in the larvae of Bactrocera correcta, Bactrocera dorsalis and Zeugodacus cucurbitae reared on different host fruits showed that Z. cucurbitae had the highest average dry weight, while B. correcta had the highest protein content and B. dorsalis had the highest lipid content. However, there was no significant different in the average sugar content from the three fruit fly larvae. In addition, the larvae of B. correcta and B. dorsalis reared on banana showed higher nutritional composition than the larvae fed on guava. As well as Z. cucurbitae, the larvae that reared on pumpkin had higher nutritional composition than that fed on cucumber. This demonstrated the influence of the host plants on the nutrient content of the fruit fly larvae that can be used as an information to develop a suitable diet for large scale mass-rearing of high nutritional value fruit fly larvae.