Biology of early shoot borer, Chilo infuscatellus (Snellen) in sugarcane

Abstract

Studies on biology of the sugarcane Early Shoot Borer, Chilo infuscutellus Snellen in laboratory conditions during 2017-18 of ARS, Sankeshwar, Karnataka to know the feeding habit and duration of different development stages, weak link and behavior of insect, which in turn help in its management. ESB larvae were collected from sugarcane Var. Co 86032 and was reared on small cut pieces (7-10 cm) of sugarcane shoots. It revealed that life cycle on sugarcane stalks of Co-86032, ranged from 30.60-33.70 days with an average of 32.30±0.15 days. The female laid eggs in a several masses on the ventral and dorsal surface of leaves close to the midrib. Incubation period of egg ranged from 4.00-4.40 days with an average of 4.20±0.10 days. The larva passed through five instars and total larval period ranged from 16.50-17.70 days with an average of 17.25 ± 0.26 days. Pupation was inside stem in silken cocoon and the pupal duration varied from 6.40-7.00 days with an average of 6.70± 0.07 days. Longevity of male moths ranged from 3.40-4.20 days with an average of 3.80±0.04 days whereas, female moths 4.00-5.00 days with an average of 4.50±0.09 days.