The document discusses determining the optimum adult population density for rearing Chrysoperla carnea (green lacewings) in cages. It finds that glass cages were best, allowing easier feeding, egg harvesting, and cleaning. Experiments testing densities of 50, 100, 150, and 200 adults found the lowest mortality (10%) and highest egg production (630 eggs) at the lowest density of 50 adults. Higher densities led to increased mortality and fewer eggs laid.

2. DETERMINATION OF OPTIMUM ADULT
POPULATION DENSITY IN CAGES FOR REARING OF
CHRYSOPERLA CARNEA (STEPHENS) (NEUROPTERA:
CHRYSOPIDAE)
MUZAMMIL SATTAR, MUHAMMAD HAMED, SAJID
NADEEM AND MUHAMMAD AFZAL MURTAZA
Plant Protection Division, Nuclear Institute for
Agriculture and Biology (NIAB). P.O.Box 128, Jhang
Road, Faisalabad

3. •Cotton is indigenous and predominant cash crop of Pakistan. It is being cultivated
on 3 million plus hectares annually and covers 14% of the total cropped area of
Pakistan.
•Cotton lint is the source of raw material to textile industry and spelled out
approximately 11 million bales under home consumptions. Provides 71% of
domestic edible oil production.
•The foreign exchange earning is contributed to 65% from raw cotton, yarn, cloth
and it’s made up constitutes. It accounts for 11.7 % value added income to
Agriculture and 2.9 % of the GDP to country. Thus cotton is an occupation of 1.5
million farming community and provides job to 50-54 % of the labour force.
•During the past decade (1995-96 to 2005-06) cotton production of our country
has risen at 2.67 % per annum due to 0.14 % annual expansion in area and 2.53 %
improvement in yield.
• The positive significant increase in production with horizontal and vertical
approaches obviously well lead our country to higher values in second decade
ending by 2015.

4. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the coordinated use of pest and
environmental information to design and implement pest control
methods that are economically, environmentally and socially sound.
•IPM promotes prevention over remediation and advocates integration of
multiple control strategies to achieve long-term pest management
solutions.
IPM consists of gathering information, interpreting data, creating a
flexible management plan, making timely decisions and taking the proper
action.
Information gathering and decision-making techniques include: accurate
pest identification, learning about the weak link in a pest's life-cycle or
biology, scouting and monitoring crops in fields and greenhouses, using
action thresholds to minimize spraying, and keeping records of findings
to assess the effectiveness of management decisions.

5. INTRODUCTION
Biological control is a living weapon over
chemical control, which is modern and
widely accepted technique in the world.
The term “Biological control” was first
used by Smith (1919) to signify the use
of natural enemies to control insect pests
(Clarke, 1993).

6. Green
Lacewings
Order: Neuroptera
Family: Chrysopidae

7. NEUROPTERA
• This order consists of a group of insects with
rather soft bodies, biting mouthparts and two
pairs of very similar membranous wings which
are usually held roof-like along the abdomen at
rest.
• Order Neuroptera consists of the lacewings, ant
lions and their relatives.
• One family consists of parasitoids.
• Their agricultural importance lies in their
carnivorous habits.
• The larvae are all predators, some are
terrestrial, feeding on jassids, psyllids, aphids,
coccids, mites, mealy bugs etc. and others are
aquatic.
• No doubt that they play an important role in the
natural control of many small homopterous
pests.

8. ADULTS
The adult green lacewings have a soft, slender, pale green delicate body, they have
large transparent, pale green membranous wings with green veins, long hair-like
antennae and have bright, golden or copper-coloured eyes. The overall body
length including wings is about 1 inch; these are active fliers particularly during
the evening and night and have a characteristic, fluttering flight, sometimes this
insect comes to light at night. And have a strong flight urge, may fly for 3 to 4
hours, feed on pollen, nectar and aphid honeydew.

9. EGGS
The Oval shaped green eggs are protectively laid singly at the end/tip of hair like
long silken stalks about an inch high, fifth day of adult emergence, resembling
miniature cattails growing from the plant foliage are pale green, turning greenish
to white colour after 2-3 days than small larvae hatched out.

10. LARVA
The larvae which are very active, somewhat elongate, has three instars,
up to about a inch long when fully grown, broadest in the middle and
tapered toward the rear, gray or brownish and alligator-like with well-
developed legs and large pincers have sickle-shaped mouthparts, with
which they suck the body fluids from the prey, feed on many types of soft
bodied insects, including aphids, mealy bugs, scale insects, leafhoppers,
thrips, and even small caterpillars. They grow from 1mm to 6-8 mm. They
can detect the larvae of leaf miners actually within the mines, and will
pierce the leaves in order to feed on the miners within. They also good
predators of spider mites.

11. PUPA
Mature third instars larvae spin round, pupate within spherical,
parchment-like silken cocoons, usually in hidden places in plants.
Adults emerge out after 8-10 days. Again the life cycle will start.

13. INTRODUCTION
• Among other Neuropterans, Green lacewings are important
and widely distributed predators, reared in controlled
temperature.
• For culturing it is necessary to modify the technology.
• Green lacewings, adult reared in different types of cages.
• Better ovipositor, good health and long life requires a proper
food and space with maintained temperature in laboratory
conditions.
• Bulk production of insects requires proper rearing cages,
natural/ artificial food, temperature and humidity conditions.

14. Materials And Methods
• For mass rearing adults of C. carnea, labour intensive and time consuming activity is most
important thing.
• Three types of cages were used, to test the better egg production, how much time was
required for egg harvesting, food provision, and the time spent on the 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 eggs and to ensure proper light and ventilation inside the cage.
The following designs were tested:
• Transparent Perspex Cages
• Transparent Glass Cages
• Wooden Cages

15. Adults’ Rearing
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 (16 x 16 inch); 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 whole of 3 inches 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.

16. Adults’ Rearing
Transparent Glass Cages
• Shape of the cage resembled with Perspex cage, except that the cage was
transparent made of glass (16 x 16 inch), 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 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.

17. Adults’ Rearing
Wooden Cages
• These cages were made of wood (16 x 16 inch), with net on four sides; base
was wooden sheet while lid was replaceable wooden sheet, covered with
black muslin cloth.
• A hole of 3 inch 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.

18. Adults’ Rearing
Maintenance of Culture
(A) Food provision: Standard adults diet was provided twice daily in droplets on
Perspex sheet strips with the help of fine camel hair brush.
(B) 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.
(C) Cleaning of cages: All the cages were cleaned with wet cotton wig after that
dried gently with the help of tissue paper.
Time of food provision, egg harvesting and cleaning of cages was noted.

19. Table- 1 Handling time required for mass-rearing of C. carnea
adults in different types of cages under laboratory
conditions Mean S.E).
Cages Operation time (minutes)
Food provision Egg harvesting Cleaning
Perspex 3.00 b 4.40 b 4.60 b
Glass 2.40 b 3.80 b 3.70 b
Wooden 3.90 a 16.60 a 9.90 a
Figures followed by same letter in a column are not significantly different from each other at 5%
DMRT.

20. Table- 2 Egg-laying distribution of C. carnea in different types of
cages under laboratory conditions.
Cages Mean S.E. Drifted eggs
(%)
On substrate Drifted
Perspex cage 192.8 5.23 b 17.97 2.47 b 9.32
Glass cage 273.42 14.46 a 13.45 1.39 c 3.71
Wooden cage 167.55 14.49 c 38.27 5.71 a 18.46
Figures followed by same letter in a column are not significantly different from each other at 5%
DMRT.

21. CONCLUSIONS
It is concluded that for mass production of C. carnea under laboratory
conditions glass cages are the best for adult rearing .
Further, experiment was conducted in controlled temperature and humidity
conditions (26±2°C with 60±5% RH).
For optimization of population density 50, 100, 150 and 200 randomly
collected, of equal size and age adults of green lacewings were released in
cages measuring 36 X 36 X 50 mm.
Each treatment has eight replications. Density effect on different biological
parameters of predator viz., number of eggs laid, size of eggs and mortality
were recorded.
The maximum egg laying 630.0±0.12 was recorded in cages having low density
(50 adults) while the minimum of 410.0±0.01 eggs was recorded in cages of
high density (200 adults).
The highest mortality of 88.63% was recorded in high density cages whereas;
the minimum mortality of 10.0% was recorded in low density cages.

22. REFRENCES
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history characteristics of the generalist predator, Chrysoperla carnea
(Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) at different prey densities. J. Pest Sci., 77:
17-21.
•Gurbanov, G.G., 1984. Effectiveness and use of common green
lacewing (Chrysoperla carnea) in control of sucking pests and cotton
moths on cotton. Biol. Nauk., 2: 92-96.
•Hashami, A. A., 2001. Insect pest management in the 21st century.
Pakistan Agric. Res. Counl. Islamabad, Pakistan, pp. 27.
•Hydron, S.B. and W.H. Whitecomb, 1979. Effects of larval diet on
Chrysopa rufilabris. Fla. Entomol., 62: 293-298.
•Kunafin, F., 1998. Commercialization of predators. American Entomol.,
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