January 2018 Vol. 6 No.1

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Sharaby A
AL-Dhafar Z  

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Original Research Article

Successful Laboratory Mass Production of the American Bollworm Helicoverpa (armigera Hubn.) on Artificial Diet

Aziza Sharaby^*1 and Zamzam ALDhafar²

¹National Research Center Cairo, Egypt, Pests and Plant Protection Department
²Department of Biology College of Science, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P. O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia.

*Corresponding Author’s E-mail: Sharaby_aziza@yahoo.com
 
Accepted January 12, 2018

Abstract

The ever increasing demand for a large numbers of laboratory reared insects has necessitated the development of efficient and economic methods of production. The American bollworm or Tomato fruitworm Helicoverpa armigera (Hubn.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) has long been recorded as a pest of many crop in many countries of the world, like Tomato, Maize, Zucchini, Green paper, Gourd, Muskmelon, Okra, Cassia, Potato, Bean, Chickpea, Sunflower, Red beet, Tobacco, Cowpea, Turnip. It also attacks the cultivated cotton plants. H. armigera can be successfully reared on artificial diet for the continuous maintenance of laboratory colonies and to facilitate investigations into different studies. The artificial diet composed of dry powdered chickpea, brewer's yeast, agar, ascorbic acid and mould inhibitor. The addition of vitamin B12 and riboflavin to the diet significantly increased the percentage of survivor larvae, moths fecundity, larval weight, fertility and moths fecundity, while the addition of sesame oil as a feeding stimulant significantly increased the pupal weight, percentage of deformed pupae and adults, these as a result of the fat tissues accumulation in the pupae during the feeding period of larvae . The pupae was passing through a period of diapauses from December to February, where the pupal period lasted about 100 day during this period for H. armigera of Saudi Arabia strain.

Keywords: Helicoverpa (Heliothes) armigera, successful artificial diet, rearing technique