Rearing of Diamondback Moth Parasites: Preparing Oviposition Foils

Preparing Oviposition Foils
Rearing of Diamondback Moth Parasites

*Preparing Foils*
	Wrinkle, then flatten, sheets of aluminum foil. Dip the sheets into the autoclaved juice until the foil is uniformly wet.
	Air dry the foil, cut it into 2 cm x 10 cm pieces (henceforth called "oviposition foils") and store them in a refrigerator until use.
	Cut a slit in the lid of a 3-4 liter plastic container and hang 2-3 oviposition foils through the slit into the container. Place a 150-ml flask filled with 10% honey solution, mixed with yellow food color (20 mg/100 ml solution), inside the container. One end of a 10-cm-long cotton wick is dipped in the honey solution and the other end is exposed out of the mouth of the flask, inside the container.
	Release 200 DBM adults inside the container and allow them to lay eggs for 24 hours. The yellow honey solution absorbed in the exposed portion of cotton wick serves as food for the DBM adults. Place the container (the oviposition chamber) inside a cabinet away from direct light or cover it with a black cloth.
	Adults readily lay eggs on the oviposition foils.
	Dip oviposited foil (foil on which eggs have been laid) in 10% formalin for 30 minutes and then rinse the foil in running tap water for 15 minutes to completely wash off the formalin disinfectant. The foils with DBM eggs are now prepared. Next, let's discuss some general practices for rearing three DBM larval parasites ...