Bovine freeze-dried blood as alternative for feeding of screwworm larvae

Abstract

The myiasis caused by Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel) or screwworm is considered one of the most traumatic and relevant to the region due to its economic implications and its importance in public health. The purpose of this study was to compare the reproductive and developmental indexes of screwworm using citrated and freeze-dried bovine blood, spray-dried bovine blood (currently used by Panama-United States Commission for the Eradication and Prevention of Screwworm –acronym in spanish [Copeg]) and bovine citrated liquid blood. The use of freeze-dried arises through the premise that, due to its process of elaboration constitutes an alternative of better quality for the feeding of the screwworm in function of the integrity of sanguine proteins during its processing. For the comparison of the different diets, the following parameters were used: pH, total pupae weight, pupae size, total pupae volume, emergency percentage, oviposition percentage and hatching percentage. In the case of freeze-dried blood, it showed better mean (standard deviation) indexes of emergence, 83.42 (11.45), and 73.11 (15.97) (p = .01); and hatching, 89.70 (8.88), and 84.08 (8.29), (p = .004) compared to the diet based on spray-dried blood. By virtue of the above, freeze-dried blood proved to be a source of protein with potential to develop insect breeding programs.