Data from: Performance of five food regimes on Anopheles gambiae senso stricto larval rearing to adult emergence in Insectary

Background: Rearing of Anopheles gambiae s.s mosquitoes in insectary with quality cheap food sources is of paramount importance for better and healthy colony. This study evaluated larval survival and the development rate of aquatic stages of An.gambiae s.s under five food regimes; tetramin fish food (a standard insectary larval food), maize pollen, Cerelac, green filamentous algae and dry powdered filamentous algae. Methods: Food materials were obtained from different sources, cerelac was made locally, fresh filamentous algae was taken from water bodies, dry filamentous algae was ground to powder after it was dried under shade, and maize pollen was collected from the flowering maize. Each food source type was used to feed three densities of mosquito larvae 20, 60, and 100 in six replicates each. Larval age structure was monitored daily until pupation and subsequently adult emergence. Tetramin was used and taken as a standard food source for An. gambiae s.s. larvae feeding in Insectary. Results: Larval survivorship using maize pollen and Tetramin fish food was statistically insignificant (P = 0.564). However when compared to other food regime survivorship was significantly different with Tetramin fish food performing better than cerelac (P<0.001), dry algae (P<0.001) and fresh algae (P<0.001). The pupation rates and sex ratio of emerging adults had significant differences among the food regimes. Conclusion: The findings of this study have shown that maize pollen had closely similar nutritional value for larval survivorship to tetramin fish food, a standard larvae food in insectary. Further studies are required to assess the effect of food sources on various life traits of the emerged adults.

Background: 在昆虫饲养室（insectary）中，使用优质且成本低廉的饲料源饲养冈比亚按蚊（Anopheles gambiae s.s.），对于建立优质健康的蚊虫种群至关重要。本研究针对5种饲料方案下冈比亚按蚊水生阶段的幼虫存活率与发育速率进行了评估，这5种饲料分别为：Tetramin鱼饲料（昆虫饲养室标准幼虫饲料）、玉米花粉、嘉宝（Cerelac）、绿色丝状藻类（filamentous algae）以及干燥粉末状丝状藻类。
Methods: 试验所用饲料原料采自不同渠道：嘉宝辅食为本地自制，新鲜丝状藻类取自自然水体，干燥丝状藻类经遮阴干燥后研磨成粉末，玉米花粉采集自开花期的玉米植株。每种饲料分别用于饲喂3种密度的蚊虫幼虫（20、60、100头/组），每组设置6次生物学重复。每日监测幼虫的龄期结构，直至幼虫化蛹（pupation）并最终完成成虫羽化（adult emergence）。本研究以Tetramin鱼饲料作为昆虫饲养室中冈比亚按蚊幼虫的标准对照饲料。
Results: 使用玉米花粉与Tetramin鱼饲料饲喂的幼虫存活率在统计学上无显著差异（P=0.564）。但与其余饲料方案相比，Tetramin鱼饲料的幼虫存活率存在显著差异：其存活率显著高于嘉宝（P<0.001）、干燥丝状藻类（P<0.001）以及新鲜丝状藻类（P<0.001）。不同饲料方案下的化蛹率以及羽化成虫的性比均存在显著差异。
Conclusion: 本研究结果表明，玉米花粉在幼虫存活率相关的营养价值上，与昆虫饲养室的标准幼虫饲料Tetramin鱼饲料极为相近。未来仍需开展进一步研究，以评估饲料源对羽化成虫各项生命性状的影响。