Effect of modified meridic diet on the development and growth of tomato fruitworm Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Abstract

The efficacy of one new modified and two old meridic diets on Helicoverpa armigera Hübner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) for rearing six successive generations was studied. Duration of larval development for insects fed on the modified diet was considerably shortened as most of them went through only five stadia before pupation, while the per cent pupation and per cent eclosion were relatively higher than on other diets. The lowest pupal mortality (6.33 ± 0.13%) was recorded in the F1 generation reared on the modified diet, whereas the highest pupal mortality (19.49 ± 0.15%) was observed in insects reared on a natural diet in the F6 generation. Blending of chickpea Cicer arietinum L. and red kidney bean Phaseolus vulgaris L. flours with tomato paste proved highly favorable for adult reproduction. These results suggest that the vitality of the tomato fruitworm did not decline obviously after rearing on a modified diet for several generations.

Bacillus thuringiensis and Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus for the Enhanced Bio-control of Helicoverpa armigera

“…Larvae were reared on modified artificial diet (Wakil et al, 2011) containing chickpea flour (125 g), red kidney beans (125 g), canned tomato paste (25 g), yeast (40 g), agar (17 g), vitamin mixture (10 mL) mixed thoroughly in distilled water (1300 mL). Adults of H. armigera were fed with 10% honey solution and provided with coarse surface of tissue as nappy liner to lay eggs ( Fig.…”

Insecticidal Efficacy of Azadirachta indica, Nucleopolyhedrovirus and Chlorantraniliprole Singly or Combined against Field Populations fo Helicoverpa armigera Hübner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

“…All the populations were reared in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) laboratory in the Department of Agricultural Entomology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (Pakistan) at 25 ± 2 °C, 75% RH and 16:8 h photoperiod. Batches of 500 field collected larvae of each population were reared in plastic trays with 32 wells (6 cm diameter × 5.5 cm depth) with one larva each to avoid cannibalism, and provided with 5 mL of artificial diet (chickpea [Cicer arietinum L.] flour: 125 g; red kidney beans [Phaseolus vulgaris L.]: 125 g; canned tomotao paste: 25 g; agar: 17 g; ascorbic acid: 3 g; sorbic acid: 1 g; yeast: 40 g; methyl-4-hydroxybenzoate: 2 g; streptomycin: 1 g; vitamin mixture: 10 mL; distilled water: 1300 mL) (Wakil et al, 2011), which was renewed regularly till pupation. Twenty five pairs of unsexed newly emerged adults of H. armigera were placed in plastic jars (15 cm diameter × 19 cm depth) lined with coarse tissue paper to facilitate egg laying.…”

“…To recover the purified virus, the second instar larvae of H. armigera were infected with a suspension of NPV by spraying and the larvae were allowed to feed on artificial diet (Wakil et al, 2011) for 7 d. Then the midguts of the infected cadavers were homogenized in deionized water, filtered through muslin cloth and centrifuged at 16 000 rpm for 45 min (Shapiro et al, 2005;Green et al, 2006). The purified virus was given washes three times in distilled water, and held in 0.1 mM NaOH at 5 °C.…”

A single semi‐synthetic diet with improved antimicrobial activity for mass rearing of lepidopteran insect pests of cotton and maize

“…MRC diet differed from the published diets in eliminating the use of ingredients such as wheat germ and plant‐derived powders such as sorghum leaf and cotton seed, and substituting them with chickpea (kabuli gram) flour. In the proposed MRC diet chickpea was taken as one of the major ingredients, as it had been reported to show a positive effect on development and to be effective for continuous rearing of insect species such as H. armigera (Abbasi et al., ; Hamed & Nadeem, ; Thanavendan & Jeyarani, ; Wakil et al., ; Chitti Babu et al., ) and S. litura (Saljoqi et al., ). Casein, cholesterol, and choline chloride were also avoided.…”