| Abstract: | Abstract A new and practical artificial diet for the cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner), containing canned tomato paste has been developed. The developmental duration of larvae fed on the diet was greatly shortened because most of them only went through 5 stadia before pupation. To add certain amount of mung bean flour to partly substitute for wheat germ in the diet was beneficial to the adult reproduction. During rearing period of 12 successive generations, 87. 5%-98. 7% of the larvae survived and only less than 5 % of the pupae failed to emerge. The number of egg laid by the adults of the 11th generation averaged about 1 000/female, with a hatching rate of 86. 5%. These results suggested that the vitality of the cotton bollworm did not decline obviously after reared with the diet for two years. |
