Effects of the diet on the antibacterial activity of hemolymph of Zophobas atratus (Fabricius, 1775) larvae cultivated in laboratory conditions are described. It is shown that plasma specimens of Z. atratus larvae grown on an artificial fungi-based diet have a prominent antibacterial activity as compared to plasma specimens of larvae grown on a diet of standard feed, so it can be suggested that the diet composition intensifies the synthesis of efficient concentrations of bactericide molecules to the hemolymph. It is found that the hemolymph fraction below 30 kDa inhibits the growth of gram-negative bacteria E. coli ATCC 25922, but has no activity towards gram-positive bacteria B. subtilis ATCC 6633=DSM 347.
The first data on the possibilities of mass rearing of the larvae of the darkling beetle Zophobas atratus (Fabricius, 1775) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) on an artificial diet (AD) based on sawdust of the Japanese elm and mycelium of the fungus Pleurotus citrinopileatus are given. It is shown that the duration of the development of the beetle on this diet is on average 7 months. The use of the new artificial diet will allow to study the developmental biology of xylophages with different types of nutrition in laboratory conditions, under the influence of biotic and abiotic factors.
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