K.D. BISANE, S.R. KATOLE, A.S. THAKARE AND G.K. LANDE

The development of H. armigera on cotton, pigeonpea, chickpea and artificial diet were studied at Department of Entomology, Dr. PDKV, Akola and the results revealed that the incubation period in laboratory cultured eggs was high on chickpea. However, the larvae from the field-collected eggs required highest 17.52 days on cotton over chickpea and pigeonpea, which were also showed similar type of sequence in laboratory, cultured eggs. The larval duration recorded on artificial diet was more than pigeonpea and chickpea except cotton. The highest pupal duration was found on chickpea (15.10 days) as compared to pigeonpea and cotton in field collected egg population study, while it was maximum 14.50 days on cotton in laboratory-cultured eggs. However, the pupal development on artificial diet in both study revealed the higher developmental period than the natural host. The male and female generation life span recorded on cotton was found higher i.e. 43.65 and 45.35 days, respectively followed by chickpea and pigeonpea. The life cycle period completed on artificial diet comprised the maximum duration over natural host. The highest fecundity was recorded on pigeonpea (field collected eggs) i.e. 405 eggs/female. The growth of H. armigera on artificial diet was more than natural hosts, while pigeonpea was found most suitable than chickpea and cotton among natural hosts. The egg stage recorded highest mortality percentage in generation, followed by first, second instar and pupal stage.