Impact of various oviposition substrates on biology of pink bollworm Pectinophora gossypiella (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) under laboratory conditions

Pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is the most destructive insect-pest among the bollworm complex of cotton in the recent epoch. The global downfall in cotton production is attributed to the increasing resistance developed in bollworms especially the P. gossypiella . An efficient mass production system is a pre-requisite to address such yield losses. Inadequate historical investigations lead to initiate the present study. Locally available and cost effective materials were evaluated to find their impact on the adult biology of P. gossypiella under laboratory condition maintained at 27 ± 2 °C, 60 ± 10% relative humidity, and 14:10 (L: D) photoperiod. The principle parameters of P. gossypiella biology included pre-oviposition, oviposition, post oviposition, female and male life span, fecundity, and average fecundity. Results revealed that the moths started to deposit eggs within 2.33 ± 0.33 to 3.00 ± 0.00 days. The female moths laid 238.00 ± 3.79 eggs, spent 13.67 ± 0.33 and 6.67 ± 0.67 days as oviposition and post-oviposition period when muslin cloth (black) was used as oviposition substrate. The male and female completed their life span in 49.11 ± 0.04 and 59.15 ± 0.03 days respectively. The research findings lead to the conclusion that muslin cloth (black) could be used as a substitute of Gouche sheets for oviposition among the indigenous substrates. Hence, the use of muslin cloth (black) as oviposition substrates can contribute towards an efficient and cost effective rearing system for Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) (Gelechiidae: Lepidoptera) with special emphasis on fecundity.