Exploring sugarcane bagasse; an economical and eco-friendly alternative feed for red palm weevil larvae rearing under laboratory conditions

Rearing red palm weevil (RPW) larvae without palm fronds is a tough, expensive, and time-consuming task. The present study purpose was to produce a sugarcane bagasse-based semi-artificial diet for the rearing of RPW larvae in the laboratory for scientific experimental studies or pesticide bioassays. The sugarcane bagasse is very economical, simple in preparation, having longer shelf life, and fully supporting the nutritional requirements of RPW larval stages for proper growth and development. Sugarcane bagasse based semi-artificial diet was consisting of sugarcane bagasse, corn flour, wheat flour, distillate water as primary components, and potassium benzoate, sorbic acid, and ascorbic acid as preservatives while agar was added to give good texture. All the ingredients were mixed together with a specific composition. The neonates were fed with the prepared diet and placed in a controlled environmental condition at 25 °C, 70 ± 5% RH, on a 12:12 h (light: dark) photoperiod. The detailed biological parameters were observed and data was recorded. The RPW larvae reared on present diet successfully completed their larval stages and reached to the pupal stage after passing 11 larval instars. Larvae feed on present diet grow vigorously and maximum larval weight 6.25 g was attained in 9th larval instar. After 9th instar larval weight reduced until pupation. Average larval duration was recorded 53.16 days. The RPW reared on present diet laid maximum 112.2 eggs in 110.8-days of oviposition period with 90.7% hatchability. The present sugarcane bagasse based semi-artificial diet is quite capable of supporting RPW larvae for the successful completion of their growth and development.