Cold Storage of Predatory Coccinellid Coccinella septempunctata L. (Coleoptera; Coccinellidae) to Increase its Shelf-Life for Biological Control Programmes

Abstract

Ladybird beetles are well acknowledged predators of soft bodied insect pests. Mass production of these beetles for biological control is widely practiced in the world against different insect pests. Many insects can modulate their life processes with respect to low temperatures and this attribute can wisely be used to increase their shelf life for mass rearing. The possibility of short-term storage for adults and larval stages of seven spotted ladybird beetle under low temperature conditions was examined in the present study. The results showed that adults survived well up to five weeks of storage period at two temperature regimes. However, duration of cold storage affected the post storage survival of adult and larvae of C. septempunctata. Better survival was recorded in beetles stored at 4°C after their removal from cold conditions. Larval survival declined gradually with increased storage length. Most of the larval instars remain alive under storage conditions up to four weeks, but larval survival in third and fourth instar larvae did not extend after three weeks of storage. Our results provide a guideline to extend shelf-life of C. septempunctata for its use as natural enemy in biological control programmes. Such studies may help in planning the storage, transportation and release of these useful natural enemies in the IPM programmes.