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COMPARATIVE BIOLOGICAL TRAITS OF ANGOUMOIS GRAIN MOTH, SITOTROGA CEREALELLA (OLIVIER) (LEPIDOPTERA: GELECHIIDAE) ON SELECTED FOOD GRAINS UNDER LABORATORY SETTING

Usman Khalique*, Nayab Iqbal, Muhammad Zahid, Noor Fatima, Syed Jawad Ahmad Shah, Iram Maqsood

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Abstract

Sitotroga cerealella (Oliv.) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is a factitious host of the biocontrol agent Trichogramma chilonis (Ishii) (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae), an egg parasitoid of lepidopterous pests. The biological traits of S. cerealella are important to be studied for the improvement and mass scale rearing of T. chilonis. Usually, S. cerealella is reared on wheat grains but for better rearing there is need to test more food sources. For this, the research activity was conducted to examine the effect of different food grains viz., chickpea, maize, oat, wheat and split chickpea on the life history traits of S. cerealella under controlled conditions i.e., 30 ± 2°C temperature and 60 ± 5% R.H. with 12 L:12 D h. photoperiod. Results showed that maximum mean adult emergence (83.0 ± 5.2 adults) and longest development rate (18.0 ± 1.1 days) was recorded in oat. Shortest developmental time, longest adult longevity and maximum adult weight was recorded in maize that was 27.5 days, 7.2 days and 0.9 mg respectively. Highest mean fecundity (99 eggs/female) and egg hatch rate (86.2%) was recorded in wheat which was statistically at par with oat (fecundity = 91.3 eggs/female and egg hatch rate = 84.1%). It is concluded that oat and maize proved to be the best alternative of wheat in terms of progeny development and mass scale rearing of S. cerealella in the laboratory.

Key words: Sitotroga cerealella, development rate, progeny development, life history traits, mass rearing