Effect of different antimicrobials on the artificial diet for coffee berry borer rearing

The use of antimicrobial agents in artificial diets for the mass rearing of insects is commonly employed to prevent the proliferation of environmental microorganisms, preventing contamination of food and space of the rear insects. Therefore, the aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of formaldehyde and nipagine antimicrobials on the Cenibroca artificial diet for coffee berry borer breeding. Through this experiment, using the Cenibroca diet, the largest number of coffee borer biological states per cm3 of diet was achieved, however the highest percentage of contamination by the fungi Aspergillus sp. and Penicillum sp. was obtained. When 2.65 mL of formaldehyde per liter of Cenibroca were added, the least diet contamination (3.3 %) was achieved. This addition did not affect the production of biological states of the coffee borer, in comparison with the rest of diets used, in which other antimicrobial agents were used. Based on these results, it is possible to use the Cenibroca diet in coffee berry borer breeding for the mass production of its parasitoids.