Busseola fusca (Fuller) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a major pest of maize and sorghum in many countries of tropical Africa. Hitherto, research on this important pest has been hampered by the occurrence of a six‐month long diapause in the last larval stage and the lack of an artificial diet for rearing the insect in the laboratory. Incorporating 4 to 8‐week‐old sorghum powder in a nutritionally adequate diet and rearing larvae individually in vials at ambient laboratory conditions (25–30 °C, 50–80% r.h., and L12: D12) have made it possible to rear 15 successive non‐diapausing generations of B. fusca capable of producing between 35 to 40 healthy pupae/litre of diet and upto 70% pupation without loss of vigour or reproductive capacity. Five to six generations were completed per year and the overall mean developmental period (egg‐egg) was 68 days (egg 6, larval 45, pre‐pupal 1, pupal 14 and pre‐oviposition 2 days). Larval period lasted 70 days in the first generation compared to 32.3 days in the fifteenth generation. Average fecundity increased from 158.0 to 394.6 eggs per female with a concomitant increase of egg hatch from 44.8 to 79.6% in the first and fifteenth generation, respectively.

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A colony maintenance system is described. This method allowed development of neonate larvae through to the adult stage, to be completed in the container without changing the diet or handling of various stages. It reduced larval inoculation time by c. 85% (as compared with rearing larvae individually). This reduced overall rearing costs.

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