Effect of different nutrient diets on developmental and reproductive fitness of Pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)

Abstract Pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Lepidopetra: Gelechiidae) is one of the most important pest of cotton. In this paper, we studied the influence of different nutrient rearing diets on developmental and reproductive characteristics of pink bollworm under laboratory conditions. Larvae were reared on four diets (two natural diets and two artificial diets) with varied nutritional value. Larval diet affects the survival, development duration, pupal weight, adult emergence and fecundity. Pink bollworm attained the fastest larval development on NRD (19.8 days) with a survival rate of 88.2% and slowest on NPD and okra (~ 27.1 days) with a survival rate of 47.5% and 58.1% respectively. Pupal weight was highest (26.86 mg) on NRD and reached maximum fecundity (107 eggs/female), while lowest fecundity on NPD (37 eggs/female). Among natural diets, egg hatching rate on cotton and okra were 87% and 71%. Adult emergence starts early and the adult eclosion window was narrow on cotton and NRD. Adult longevity was varied with diets, while female moths lived longer than males in all diet treatments. Our study may help to understanding the effect of nutrition from different diets and enhanced the fecundity of P. gossypiella on NRD under laboratory conditions.