Horvash Seyedi - Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran.
Fariba Mehrkhou - Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran.
Farzaneh Noori - Urmia Lake Research Institute, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran.

The Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella Zeller is one of the conventional hosts for rearing of natural enemies to be used in biological control programs. In this study, the effects of three cereal flours (wheat, corn and barley) on some biological parameters, nutritional responses, as well as proteolytic and amylolytic digestive activities of the fifth instar larvae of E. kuehniella werestudied to determine suitability of the cereals for optimum growth and reproduction of E. kuehniella. The highest rate of larval survival (۰.۸۸) and larval growth index (۹.۷۷) were obtained in larvae which fed on corn flour. The relative growth rate (۹.۱۷ ± ۰.۳۳ mg/mg/day) and the efficiency of conversion of ingested food (۱۲.۰۸ ± ۱.۱۱%) were the highest rate for fifth instar larvae which fed on corn flour. The highest protein concentration in midgut of larvae (۶۳.۷۷ ± ۲.۳۱ mg/ml) and consequentially, proteolytic activity including tryptic (۰.۰۰۱۲ ± ۰.۰۰ Umg-۱) and chymotryptic (۰.۵۴۳ ± ۰.۰۰۱ Umg-۱) were observed in larvae that fed on corn flour. According to the results obtained, corn (Var. ۷۰۴) was the most suitable cereal for laboratory rearing of E. kuehniella, resulting in the highest rate of biological and physiological parameters.

Mediterranean flour moth, cereal, nutritional indices, proteolytic and amylolytic activity