The effect of the whey protein supplement on the sex ratio in Drosophila melanogaster

Darshini M, Manaswini D Kashyap, Harshitha S, Naveenashree N, Purushotham MR, Darshan BK and Krishna MS *

Department of Studies in Zoology, University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysuru-560006, Karnataka, India.
 
Research Article
International Journal of Science and Research Archive, 2024, 12(02), 228–232.
Article DOI: 10.30574/ijsra.2024.12.2.1221
Publication history: 
Received on 19 May 2024; revised on 03 July 2024; accepted on 05 July 2024
 
Abstract: 
Dietary composition is one of the important external environmental factors that affects many aspects of animal physiology, including growth and development, stress resistance, survivability, reproductive fitness and also alters the sex ratio. The present study aims to investigate the impact of whey protein on the sex ratio in Drosophila melanogaster flies by culturing the flies in wheat cream agar, whey protein treated media, and mixed media. The results showed that the female offspring are produced more than the male offspring in all three diets. The mixed diet produced more female offspring compared to the other two diets. There is a much greater difference in sex ratio observed in wheat cream agar media compared to treated and mixed media, where an average difference is observed. Thus, suggests that the whey protein increases the female offsprings suggesting nutritional dietary components in the food alters offspring sex ratio in D. melanogaster.
 
Keywords: 
Nutrition; Drosophila melanogaster; Whey protein; Sex ratio
 
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