Developmental rate from larvae to pupa
Time from larval to the pupal stage showed significant differences (Kruskal-Wallis H=403.94, gl=3, p<0.001, Figure 1). The control group (48.05 ± 0.22) had a faster development, compared to the other three groups (Bonferroni post-hoc tests p< 0.001, in all comparisons). Development time was shorter in the group fed with PE (79.43 ± 2.12) compared to the groups fed with CP (83.82 ± 1.38; p<0.001) or PS (101.78 ± 0.89; p<0.001). There were no differences between CP or PS (p = 0.55; Fig. 1), but there was a shorter pupal stage for the control group (7.67 ± 0.05, p<0.001) compared to the other three groups (Fig. 2). No significant differences emerged for the other groups (CP, 7.84 ± 0.07; PS, 8.11 ± 0.12; PE, 8.35 ± 0.09; Bonferroni post-hoc test p > 0.05 for all cases).
Mortality from larvae to pupa
The number of insects that died from pupal to adult stage was different among groups (ANOVA F3,16 = 10.61, p < 0.001). The control (2.2 ± 1.16) and PE (4.2 ± 1.16) groups showed a lower mortality compared to CP (9.8 ± 0.73; Tukey’s post-hoc test, p = 0.005 in both cases). PS did not show significant differences in mortality with respect to the experimental groups (p = 0.05 for PE, and p = 0.08 for CP) or the control group (p = 0.05).
Final weight in adults
The four groups differed (Kruskal-Wallis H = 309.85, gl = 3, p < 0.001): the Control group was heavier than the other three groups (Bonferroni’s post-hoc test p < 0.001 for all comparisons). PE, PS and CP differed among them (Bonferroni’s post-hoc test p < 0.001, for all comparisons). While the PE group had the lowest weight (0.0314 ± 0.00023), the CP group had the highest weight (0.0385 ± 0.00041) and the PS group had an intermediate value (0.0340 ± 0.00044).
Hatching rate and fecundity
The number of larvae hatched from surviving couples was different between the experimental groups and the control group (Kruskal-Wallis H3 = 56.40, p < 0.001, Fig. 3).
Females from the control group produced a higher number of larvae (27.46 ± 0.80), compared to females that were fed with PE or PS (PS, 21.09 ± 0.72; PE, 17.90 ± 0.51; Bonferroni´s post hoc test p<0.001, in both comparisons). Also, the number of larvae in the control group was higher compared to the adults fed with CP (CP 22.41 ± 0.67, Bonferroni’s post-hoc test p = 0.028). The number of larvae produced was higher in the group fed with CP, compared to the group fed with PE (Bonferroni’s post-hoc test p = 0.009). For the remaining comparisons of the experimental groups there were no significant differences (Fig. 3).