Estimation of life expectancy and measurement of immature stages of Lucilia sericata fed on three kinds of diets

Background and Objectives: Finding the best diet is very important to rear Lucilia sericata larvae for therapeutic purposes and preparestandard curves in forensic entomology. The aim of this study was to find the best diet for larvae in maggot therapy. Furthermore, this studywas conducted to obtain a vertical life table and measure the length and width of immature stages of L. sericata for forensic entomology.Materials and Methods: Larvae of L. sericata (Karaj strain) were used to evaluate diets. The tests were carried out in three replicates of ۱۰۰eggs for each diet including chicken liver, blood agar, and fish food at the same time. Independent t-test, ANOVA, and Tukey’s post-hoctests were used to compare the mean length and width of larvae between different groups. A P-value of less than ۰.۰۵ was consideredsignificance level.Results: In contrast to the first and the second larval instars, there was a significant difference in the mean length and width of the thirdinstar larvae (P < ۰.۰۰۱). At the third instar larval stage, those larvae that had been fed on chicken liver were significantly larger than theothers. There were also no significant differences between life expectancy, overall survivorship rate, and force of mortality of larval groupsfed on three different diets.Conclusions: Chicken liver is an advisable diet for nurturing larvae and plotting standard curves in forensic entomology. For rearing the firstand the second larval instars in sterile conditions, blood agar and fish food can serve as suitable diets.

Keywords:

Fly , Lucilia sericata , Life table , Larval diet , Forensic entomology , Maggot therapy