The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of different kind of preys and their combination when offered to Podisus nigrispinus. The bioassay was composed of three treatments with sixty replicates each, in a randomized complete block design. Treatment one (T1) consisted of P. nigrispinus feeding on 4th instar of Spodoptera frugiperda larvae; treatment two (T2) consisted of Tenebrio molitor larvae only, and treatment three (T3) consisted of 2nd to 4th instar of S. frugiperda larvae and T. molitor larvae until the end of the P. nigrispinus life cycle. The body weight in all nymphal instars and in 3 day old adults were the same with all preys used. However, predators fed with S. frugiperda (T1) showed a greater number of eggs in a smaller period, with 80% of the eggs laid up to the 31st day, while P. nigrispinus fed on T. molitor (T2) the same rate was achieved up to the 45th day, and when a combination of preys were used (T3), the rate was achieved up to the 48th day.
biological control; predators; natural enemy
