| Summary: | This study presented biological and economic data for the mass-rearing of <i>Orius minutus</i> in Korea. Simplifying the mass-rearing process through an alternative diet and an artificial oviposition substrate is a prerequisite for enhancing the usability of this insect as a biological control agent. We compare the hatch rate of <i>O. minutus</i> eggs deposited on a plant substrate with that of eggs deposited on two artificial substrates, cork sheets and rubber. The results indicate that cork sheet is the most cost-effective artificial oviposition substrate for the mass-rearing of <i>O. minutus</i>. We also examine five feeding treatments that included two types of brine shrimp eggs and eggs of <i>Ephestia cautella</i> to compare the number of eggs laid in the fifth generation. We found no significant difference between the two treatment groups; 61.3 eggs were laid in the treatment group fed iron-coated brine shrimp and moth eggs, and 67.4 eggs were laid in the control group. The plant-free model developed in our study can reduce rearing costs by 70.5% compared to the conventional mass-rearing model.
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