EFFECT OF ASCORBIC ACID ANALOGUES ON GROWTH AND SOME CHEMICAL CONTENTS IN PINK BOLLWORM, Pectinophora gossypiella (SAUND.)

Abstract

The effects of ascorbic acid on development and some biochemical analysis of Pectinophora gossypiella (Saund.) were investigated after feeding newly hatched larvae with different concentrations of three ascorbic acid analogues i.e., L-ascorbic acid, D-isoascorbic and D-glucoascorbic acid. The added analogue and the used concentration significantly affected larval growth. Statistically, L-ascorbic acid seemed to be the best analogue, as the whole mean of survived larvae averaged 63.737% comparing with 54.17 and 32.9% for the D-isoascorbic and D-glucoascorbic acid analogues, respectively. All survived larvae succeeded to develop into pupae after feeding with any of the three concentrations of L-ascorbic acid, while, all larvae died or failed to develop into pupae when fed with 2.32 mg of D-isoascorbic or Dglucoascorbic acid analogue / 100g diet, respectively. The significant low percentages of survived larvae or produced pupae are a reflection to the reduction in the values of total protein, tyrosine and chitin in larval body. Statistical analysis of data yielded a significant correlation between the percentages of larvae which succeeded to develop into pupae and the quantity of their total protein (r = 0.8043**), tyrosine (r = 0.82277**) and chitin (r = 0.69874*) in larvae.