Exploitation of neonate larval behaviour of Sesamia inferens on maize for its effective management

Abstract

The Neonate larval behaviour and duration of the feeding of Sesamia inferens larvae in leaf whorl of the maize plant was studied in 15-20 days old plant by releasing neonate larvae on seven maize hybrid genotypes HISHELL, DKC-9135, Cyrus-G, Prabal, Cyrus, HQPM-1 and Sugar-75 under poly house conditions. The neonate larvae of S. inferens started ballooning immediately after their placement on the leaf sheath. The preference of leaf sheath area was increased with time. Fifty per cent of the larvae showed ballooning behaviour within first 10 minutes. On the basis of 20 larvae, it was found that average time taken to reach the whorl was 27.00 minutes when, the plants were in 4-5 leaf stage and 24.08 minutes when the plants were in 6-7 leaf stage. Maximum feeding in whorl was observed in sugar-75 maize hybrids as 10.02 and 9.95 days during spring 2013-14 and 2014-15, respectively.