Abstract:
The German cockroach,
Blattella germanica (L.), is a common
indoor pest in low-income housing.
Cockroaches not only spoil food but also
transfer pathogens and cause allergic
reactions and psychological distress. The
72 h-starved cockroaches were given
choices among eight food items: four
carbohydrate–rich foods (bread, biscuit,
banana, and potato) and four protein-rich
foods (minced meat, cooked cheese, white
cheese, and luncheon). Modified fourchamber
arenas were used for this food
preference experiment. Each kind of food
was placed in each chamber of the arena
with 20 of starving cockroaches placed at
the center. This experiment was done three
times, one with the four carbohydrate–rich
foods, the other with the four protein-rich
foods, and the last with the preferred food
from carbohydrate and protein. Another
food preference experiment was conducted
in the different modified four chamber
arenas to determine the food consumption as
the Rodgers’s index. The two arenas were
observed after 3 days in the laboratory, the
first one to estimate percent of attracted
adults to different food items, while the
second one to calculate the food
consumption by using Rodgers’s index.
The percentage of adults attracted to
carbohydrate foods (biscuit and banana) and
protein food (cooked cheese) was
significantly higher than (bread and potato)
and (luncheon, minced meat and white
cheese) at p ≤ 0.05 in both type of food,
respectively. Data showed that banana was
high attracted to cockroach and gave
significant difference between cooked
cheese and luncheon and the lowest
attracted was seen in biscuit when adults
exposed to carbohydrate and protein food
items in the same choice arenas. Data
showed significance level of variation in
food consumption (mg) by German
cockroach adults were analyzed with
ANOVA, Tukey’s P≤0.05. Data showed
that biscuit was avoided food, whereas
banana was preferred food item.
