Pakistan J. Zool., vol. 43(3), pp. 483-487, 2011.
Mass Rearing of Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens) (Neuroptera:
Chrysopidae) Adults for Integrated Pest Management Programmes
Muzammil Sattar1* and Ghulam Hussain Abro2
1
Plant Protection Division, Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology, P.O. Box 128, Jhang Road,
Faisalabad
2
Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Jam
Abstract.- Experiment was conducted during 2009, in laboratory to evaluate substrate colour preference for egg
laying of Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens). C. carnea male and female were paired and confined in glass chimneys as
cages covered with different coloured cloth pieces such as white, green, black, brown, yellow and pink. Among all
colours tested, females preferred black colour as a substrate for egg-laying and laid the highest (91.00%) eggs
followed by green colour and lowest on brown colour. In another experiment the adults of C. carnea were reared in
three types of cages, transparent Perspex cage, transparent glass cage and wooden cage in the laboratory conditions, to
test the suitability of different cage types for better egg production and C. carnea culture management for mass
production unit. The highest number of eggs (18.46%) drifted in wooden cage, whereas, lowest percentage of drifted
eggs (3.71%) was observed in glass cage. Glass cages proved better than other types of cages, requiring minimum
time from the point of sanitation. For adult rearing minimum time required for food provision was 2.40 min in glass
cage followed by 3.00 min in Perspex cage. Much shorter (3.70 min) time was required for cleaning of glass cage than
Perspex cage (4.60 min). Significantly less time (3.80 min) was required for egg harvesting from glass cage, than from
other types of cages.
Key words: Chrysoperla carnea, adults, rearing cages, substrate colour preference.
INTRODUCTION
The green lacewings, Chrysoperla carnea
(Stephens) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) is a
cosmopolitan predator found in a wide range of
agricultural habitats. Earlier, many authors such as
DeBach and Hagen (1964), Henry (1979, 1985,
1993), Bram and Bickely (1963) and Brooks et al.
(1994) have discussed the role of predators in
controlling agricultural insect pests. It is estimated
that possibly up to one third of the successful
biological insect pest control programmes are
attributable to the introduction of C. carnea and
release of insect predators (Williamson and Smith,
1994). Larvae of C. carnea are voracious and
efficient biological control agents for various
phytophagous arthropods (McEwen et al., 2001).
One larva may devour as many as five hundred
aphids in its life and there is no doubt that they play
an important part in the natural control of many
small homopterous pests (Michaud, 2001). There
____________________________
*
Corresponding author: msattar73@yahoo.com
0030-9923/2011/0003-0483 $ 8.00/0
Copyright 2011 Zoological Society of Pakistan.
is a huge amount of literature available for mass
rearing of C. carnea from early 60s in simplified
units, cylindrical plastic cages and other techniques
of shifting of adults for diet and cleaning of rearing
units (Tulisalo and Korpela, 1973; Hassan, 1975;
Morrison, 1977; Tulisalo, 1978; Karelin et al., 1989;
Pal-Singh and Varma, 1989).
For suppressing sucking pests, egg cards of
green lacewings were used in cotton, vegetables and
various field and horticultural crops (Fondren et al.,
2004; Ballal and Singh, 1999; Daane et al., 1996;
Hoddle and Robinson, 2004; Hanumantharaya et al.,
2008). Therefore, for release purpose it is necessary
to mass rear this beneficial insect with new
technologies. In this study to economise the mass
production, different types of cages were used for
mass culturing of C. carnea adults to test the better
egg production, time required for egg harvesting,
food provision and the time spent on sanitation of
cages for maintaining the healthy culture. Shifting
of adults from one cage to another and particularly
egg harvesting and cleaning was difficult to
perform. In view of above difficulties, adult cages
were designed with the objectives to avoid the use
of anaesthesia or vacuum suckers to reduce labour
involved in sanitation, feeding and harvesting of
484
M. SATTAR AND G.H. ABRO
eggs and to ensure proper light and ventilation
inside the cage. The results of this study will
provide information to progressive farmers and
commercial insectaries for improved mass
production technology of C. carnea under socioeconomic conditions of Pakistan.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Substrate colour preference for egg laying
An experiment was conducted in laboratory
during 2009, to evaluate substrate colour preference
for egg laying of Chrysoperla carnea. C. carnea
male and female were paired and confined in glass
chimneys (4 x 7 cm) as cages, covered with
different coloured cloth pieces such as white, green,
black, brown, yellow and pink colours. Females
were allowed to mate and lay eggs for 20 days. Wet
cotton was used for water in glass vials inside the
chimneys, while paper cards (2 x 3 cm) were used
for diet droplets. Eggs laid on the cloth piece and
inner side of rearing chimney were collected and
counted carefully. This experiment was replicated
eight times.
Mass rearing of adults
For rearing adults of C. carnea, three types of
cages were used, to test the better egg production;
minimum time required for egg harvesting, food
provision, and time spent on the sanitation of cages
for maintaining the healthy culture. Following
designs were tested:
Transparent perspex cages
Adults of C. carnea were reared in these
cages for testing the eggs laid on substrate and
drifted and laid on other structures. The cage was
made of only three (5 mm width) sheets (40 x 40
cm); one in lower surface and two for side walls, the
front side was made of plastic net with replaceable
top lid of wooden piece covered with black muslin
cloth. Only one rounded hole of 7.5 cm in diameter
was made in front side for food provision and
cleaning of cage, an iron rod was patched with glue
(Smad bond®), which was covered and stitched
with white muslin cloth sleeve; both the ends of
sleeve were open for sanitation, provision of food
and water and release of newly emerged insects.
Transparent glass cages
Shape of the cage resembled that of Perspex
cage, except that the cage was transparent, made of
glass (40 x 40 cm), covered with black muslin cloth
directly as egg laying substrate at the ceiling of the
cage without any use of wooden sheet, pinned
tightly with common paper pins from four ends
which was easy to change the cover, without any
escape of adults. The front side had a hole of 7.5 cm
in diameter for handling of insects, which was
covered by white muslin cloth sleeve. Moisture was
maintained by placing wet cotton wig in glass vials.
There was no need to shift the adults during food
and water provision and for sanitation.
Wooden cages
These cages were made of wood (40 x 40
cm), with net on four sides; base was wooden sheet,
while lid was replaceable wooden sheet, covered
with black muslin cloth. A hole of 7.5 cm in
diameter was made for sanitation, provision of food
and water and release of newly emerged insects.
Water soaked cotton for maintaining moisture inside
the cage in glass vials was provided.
Maintenance of culture
Food provision
Standard adults diet (Honey 1g, sucrose 5mg,
protein 5g, yeast 1g and distilled water 40 ml) was
provided twice daily in droplets on Perspex sheet
strips with the help of fine camel hair brush.
Egg harvesting
Eggs were harvested from replaceable black
muslin cloth cover with the help of sharp razor
blade. Some eggs were laid on other structures
within cage such as cage walls, water containing
vials etc., were also harvested with razor.
Cleaning of cages
All the cages were cleaned with wet cotton
wig after that dried gently with the help of tissue
paper. Time of egg harvesting, food provision and
cleaning of cages was noted.
MASS REARING OF CHRYSOPERLA CARNEA
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Substrate colour preference for egg laying
Chrysoperla carnea females visually
distinguished different colours and preferred certain
colours as a substrate for egg laying. C. carnea
oviposition preference for different coloured
substrates was significant (F= 187.28; DF= 5, 42; P
<0.001). Among all colours, C. carnea females
preferred black colour as a substrate for egg laying
and laid the highest (91.00%) eggs followed by
green colour and lowest were recorded in brown
colour (Fig .1).
a
100
required for cleaning of glass cage followed by 4.60
min for perspex cage and 9.9 min for wooden cage
(Table I).
The result of eggs laid on substrate and
drifted and laid on other structures is shown in
Table II. Significantly (F= 10.16; DF= 2, 27; P=
<0.001) higher number of eggs (273.42±14.46) were
laid on glass cage compared with other two types of
cages. Whereas, the highest percentage (18.46%) of
eggs drifted when wooden cage was used for mass
rearing and egg production of C. carnea adults
compared with other types. The difference between
different cage types was significant (F= 2.57; DF=
2, 27; P <0.001).
Table I.-
90
80
b
c
Percent egg
70
d
60
Cages
e
f
50
Perspex
Glass
Wooden
40
30
485
Handling time required for mass-rearing of C.
carnea adults in different types of cages under
laboratory conditions (Mean ±S.E).
Operation time (minutes)
Food
Egg
Cleaning
provision
harvesting
3.00 b
2.40 b
3.90 a
4.40 b
3.80 b
16.60 a
4.60 b
3.70 b
9.90a
Figures followed by same letter in a column are not
significantly different from each other at 5% DMRT.
20
10
Table II.-
0
Green
Pink
Yellow Brown White
Black
Egg-laying distribution of C. carnea in
different types of cages under laboratory
conditions.
Substrate colour
Cages
Fig.1. Egg-laying performance of C.
carnea on different substrate colours under
laboratory conditions.
Mass Rearing of adults
In present study, the time required for food
provision was 2.40 min in glass cage followed by
3.00 minutes in Perspex cage. Significantly (F=
13.62; DF= 2, 27; P <0.001) more time (3.9 min)
was required for provision of food in wooden cages.
Significantly (F= 858.95; DF= 2, 27; P <0.001)
more time (16.60 min) was required for egg
harvesting from wooden cage, whereas, minimum
time of 3.80 min was required for glass cage for the
same operation. While significantly (F= 119.3; DF=
2, 27; P= <0.001) much shorter (3.70 min) time was
Perspex cage
Glass cage
Wooden cage
Mean±S.E.
On substrate
Drifted
192.8±5.23 b
273.42±14.46 a
167.55±14.49 c
17.97±2.47 b
13.45±1.39 c
38.27±5.71 a
Drifted
eggs (%)
9.32
3.71
18.46
Figures followed by same letter in a column are not
significantly different from each other at 5% DMRT.
Mass rearing of C. carnea adults for
commercial purpose, to obtain eggs or larvae for
augmentive release under field conditions for
integrated pest management purpose required
certain operations to be carried out such as provision
of food, harvesting of eggs and cleaning of cages
containing C. carnea adults in an insectary.
Tulisalo and Korpela (1973) reared C. carnea
adults in cylindrical plastic cages; Females laid an
486
M. SATTAR AND G.H. ABRO
average of 700 eggs each; 80-83% of the eggs
hatched. McEwen et al. (1999) have outlined
production system of C. carnea and have worked
out economics of production. Carvalho et al. (2002)
have determined the influence of density of green
lacewing, C. mediterranea adults on their
production potential.
Karelin et al. (1989) developed techn iques
for commercial mass-rearing of the predator
Chrysopa carnea [Chrysoperla carnea] as a
biological control agent. Changing the cage shape
from cylindrical to rectangular increased production
efficiency by 27-30%. Pal-Singh and Varma (1989)
evaluated the suitability of dead adults of C.
cephalonica for mass rearing of C. carnea.
Substitution of C. cephalonica eggs with dead adults
resulted in substantial increases in larval and pupal
durations of the predator and reductions in survival
rate. It was concluded that dead adults of C.
cephalonica provided inadequate nourishment for
larvae of C. carnea.
Rearing of C. carnea in the glass cages
proved better than other types of cages, requiring
minimum time from the point of sanitation, food
provision, egg harvesting and handling of adults.
This will save labour costs and will be more
economical than other types of cages for mass
production unit in an insectary.
REFERENCES
BRAM, R.A. AND BICKLEY, W.E., 1963. The green
lacewings of the genus Chrysopa in Maryland
(Neuroptera: Chrysopidae). Univ. Maryland Agric. Exp.
Stat. Bull., A-124: 1-18.
BALLAL, C.R. AND SINGH, S.P., 1999. Host plant-mediated
orientational and ovipositional behaviour of three
species of Chysopids (Neuroptera: Chysopidae). Biol.
Contr., 16: 47-53.
BROOKS, L., HEIN, G., JOHNSON, G., LEGG, D., MASSEY,
B., MORRISON, P., WEISS, M. AND PEAIRS, F.,
1994. Economic impact of the Russian wheat aphid in
the western United States: 1991-1992. Great Plains
Agric. Counc. Publ., 147: 250-268.
CARVALHO, C. F., CANARD, M. AND ALAUZET, C.,
2002. Influence of the density of Chrysoperla
mediterranea (Holzel, 1972) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae)
adults and its laboratory reproductive potential. Acta
Zool. Hung., 48: 61-65.
DAANE, K.M., YOKATA, G.Y., ZHENG, Y. AND HAGEN,
K.S., 1996. Inundative release of common green
lacewings (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) to suppress
Erythroneura variabilis and E. elegantula (Homoptera:
Cicadellidae) in vineyard. Environ. Ent., 25: 1224-1234.
DeBACH, P. AND HAGEN, K. S., 1964. Manipulation of
entomophagous species. In: Biological control of insect
pests and weeds (ed. P. DeBach). Reinhold, New York.
pp. 429-458.
FONDREN, K.M., McCULLOUGH, D.G. AND WALTER,
A.J., 2004. Insect predator and augmentative biological
control of Balsam twig aphid (Mindarus abietinus
Koch) (Homoptera: Aphididae) on Christmas tree
plantations. Environ. Ent., 33: 1652-1661.
HANUMANTHARAYA, L., BASAVANAGOUND, K. AND
KRISHNANAJK, L., 2004. Management of insect pests
of sunflower using green lacewing, Chrysoperla carnea
(Stephens) and neem seed kernel extract. Karnataka J.
agric. Sci., 21: 130-133.
HASSAN, S.A., 1975. The mass rearing of Chrysopa carnea
Steph. (Neuroptera, Chrysopidae). Z. angew. Ent., 79:
310-315.
HENRY, C.S., 1979. Acoustical communication during
courtship and mating in green lacewings, Chrysopa
carnea (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae). Annls entomol. Soc.
Am., 72: 68-79.
HENRY, C.S., 1985. Sibling species, call differences, and
speciation
in
green
lacewings
(Neuroptera:
Chrysopidae: Chrysoperla). Evolution, 39: 965-884.
HENRY, C.S., 1993. Chrysoperla mohave (Banks)
(Neuroptera: Chrysopidae): two familiar species in an
unexpected disguise. Psyche, 99: 291-308.
HODDLE, M.S. AND ROBINSON, L., 2004. Evaluation of
factors influencing augmentative releases of
Chrysoperla cornea for control of Scirtothrips perseae
in California avocado orchards. Biol. Contr., 31: 268275.
KARELIN, V.D., YAKOVCHUK, T. N. AND DANU, V. P.,
1989. Development of techniques for commercial
production of the common green lacewing, Chrysopa
carnea (Neuroptera, Chrysopidae). Acta entomol.
Fenn., 53: 31-35.
McEWAN, P.K., KIDD, N.A., BAILEY, E. AND
ECCLESTON, L., 1999. Small-scale production of the
common green lacewing Chrysoperla carnea
(Stephens) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae): minimizing
costs and maximizing out put. J. appl. Ent., 123: 303305.
McEWEN, P.K., NEW, T.R.R. AND WHITTINGTON, A.,
2001. Lacewings in the crop management. Cambridge
University Press.
MICHAUD, J.P., 2001. Evaluation of green lacewings,
Chrysoperla
plorabunda
(Fitch)
(Neuroptera)
augmentative release against Toxoptera citricida
(Homoptera: Aphididae) in citrus. J. appl. Ent., 122:
383-388.
MORRISON, R. K., 1977. A simplified larval rearing unit for
MASS REARING OF CHRYSOPERLA CARNEA
the common green lacewing. Southw. Entomol., 2: 188190.
PAL-SINGH, P. AND VARMA, G. C., 1989. Evaluation of the
suitability of spent or dead Corcyra Cephalonica
(Pyralidae: Lepidoptera) moth as food for rearing
Chrysoperla carnea (Chrysopidae: Neuroptera). Biol.
Wastes, Dep. Ent. Punjab Agric. Univ. Ludhiana, 28:
309-311.
TULISALO, U. 1978. [recd. 1980]. An improved rearing
method for Chrysopa carnea (Steph.). Annl. Agric.
487
Fenniae, 17: 143-146.
TULISALO, U. AND KORPELA, S., 1973. Mass rearing of the
green lacewing (Chrysopa carnea Steph.). Annl. Ent.
Fennici, 39: 143-144.
WILLIAMSON, F.A. AND SMITH, A., 1994. Agrow Report
(DS 95) biopesticides in crop protection. PJB
Publications, 120 pp.
(Received 8 April 2010, revised 28 October 2010)