Study of the biology of Chilo partellus (Swinhoe.) on artificial and natural diets

Abstract

The biology of maize stem borer, Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) was studied under laboratory conditions on three different formulations of semi-synthetic diets (no.1, 2 & 3) as well as on sweet corn. Diet no.1 and 2 were prepared by modifying the basic plant factor of the existing standardized diet composition of C. sacchariphagus indicus and diet no.3 was prepared by following the standardized diet composition of NBAIR for mass rearing of C. partellus. Of all the diets tested, C. partellus completely failed to develop on semi-synthetic diet no. 1 & 2, but successfully completed its lifecycle on diet no.3 and sweet corn. The observation on the total duration of life cycle, egg period, larval period, pupal period, pupal weight, adult longevity, oviposition period, fecundity and percent egg hatchability revealed that, the insect development was poor and prolonged on the artificial diet, but was normal on its natural diet i.e., sweet corn.