PMID- 24647347 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20151214 LR - 20220417 IS - 1932-6203 (Electronic) IS - 1932-6203 (Linking) VI - 9 IP - 3 DP - 2014 TI - Validation of a new larval rearing unit for Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) mass rearing. PG - e91914 LID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0091914 [doi] LID - e91914 AB - The mosquito larval rearing unit developed at the Insect Pest Control Laboratory (IPCL) of the FAO/IAEA Joint Division was evaluated for its potential use for Aedes albopictus (Skuse, 1895) mass rearing in support of the development of a sterile insect technique (SIT) package for this species. The use of the mass rearing trays and rack did not adversely affect larval development, pupation and survival rates and allowed the management of large larval rearing colonies with reduced space requirements in comparison with classical individual trays. The effects of larval density, water temperature and diet composition on pupal production and size differentiation for sex separation efficacy were analyzed for individual mass rearing trays as well as multiple trays stacked within the dedicated rack unit. Best results were obtained using eighteen thousand larvae per tray at a density of 3 larvae per ml of deionized water at a temperature of 28 degrees C on a diet consisting of 50% tuna meal, 36% bovine liver powder, 14% brewer's yeast and, as an additive, 0.2 gr of Vitamin Mix per 100 ml of diet solution. Pupae were harvested on the sixth day from larval introduction at L1 stage and males were separated out by the use of a 1400 microm sieve with 99.0% accuracy with a recovery rate of ca. 25% of the total available males. With the use of this larval rearing unit, an average production of 100,000 male pupae per week can be achieved in just 2 square meter of laboratory space. Compared to previous laboratory rearing method, the same pupal production and sex separation efficacy could only be achieved by use of ca. 200 plastic trays which required the space of two 5 square meter climatic-controlled rooms. FAU - Balestrino, Fabrizio AU - Balestrino F AD - Insect Pest Control Laboratory, Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/International Atomic Energy Agency (FAO/IAEA) Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria. FAU - Puggioli, Arianna AU - Puggioli A AD - Medical and Veterinary Entomology Department, Centro Agricoltura Ambiente C.A.A. "G. Nicoli", Crevalcore, Italy. FAU - Gilles, Jeremie R L AU - Gilles JR AD - Insect Pest Control Laboratory, Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/International Atomic Energy Agency (FAO/IAEA) Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria. FAU - Bellini, Romeo AU - Bellini R AD - Medical and Veterinary Entomology Department, Centro Agricoltura Ambiente C.A.A. "G. Nicoli", Crevalcore, Italy. LA - eng PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't DEP - 20140319 PL - United States TA - PLoS One JT - PloS one JID - 101285081 SB - IM MH - Aedes/*growth & development/microbiology MH - Animals MH - Breeding/*methods MH - Female MH - Larva/growth & development MH - Male MH - Pupa/growth & development/microbiology MH - Reproducibility of Results MH - Saccharomyces cerevisiae/physiology MH - Temperature PMC - PMC3960149 COIS- Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. EDAT- 2014/03/22 06:00 MHDA- 2015/12/15 06:00 PMCR- 2014/03/19 CRDT- 2014/03/21 06:00 PHST- 2013/12/17 00:00 [received] PHST- 2014/02/16 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2014/03/21 06:00 [entrez] PHST- 2014/03/22 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2015/12/15 06:00 [medline] PHST- 2014/03/19 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - PONE-D-13-53149 [pii] AID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0091914 [doi] PST - epublish SO - PLoS One. 2014 Mar 19;9(3):e91914. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091914. eCollection 2014.