Studies on the biology of Helicoverpa armigera on different semi-synthetic diet

Abstract

A study was conducted to determine the effect of artificial diets on some of the important biological parameter of Helicoverpa armigera under laboratory condition at 25±1°C, 75±5% R.H. and 14 hr photoperiod. Four locally available pulses viz., chickpea, green gram, pea and black gram were used as treatments and compared with that of the natural diet as control i.e. chickpea leaves. Sixty larvae in each treatment were fed and studied. Results revealed that larval duration was found to be the minimum in larvae reared on chickpea based diet and longer on pea, green gram and black gram respectively and maximum on chickpea leaves. Overall, the fitness index was found highest on chickpea followed by pea, green gram, black gram, black gram and chickpea leaves. The study proved that chickpea based diet was the best for mass rearing of Helicoverpa armigera while pea based diet could also be used as substitute.