The Life Cycle of Armyworm, Spodoptera litura (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera) Destructive Pest of Cabbage

Ramzan, Muhammad; Asghar, Muhammad Yasir Naseer; Ijaz, Muhammad; Abid, Muhammad; Sardar, Muhammad Uzair; Latif, Muhammad Ammar; Hassan, Muhammad; Akram, Muhammad Salman; Moharvi, Muhammad Zain

doi:10.21608/eajbsa.2021.191036

The Life Cycle of Armyworm, Spodoptera litura (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera) Destructive Pest of Cabbage

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ State Key Laboratory for Biology of Insect Pests and Diseases, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China

² Department of Entomology, PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Pakistan

³ Department of Entomology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

⁴ Institute of Business Management Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad

⁵ Department of Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, The Islamic University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan

10.21608/eajbsa.2021.191036

Abstract

Armyworm, Spodoptera litura is a destructive pest of several agricultural and horticultural crops all over the world including Pakistan. The life cycle of S. litura was checked on cage leaves under laboratory conditions during 2019. The incubation period was completed in 2-4 days with an average of 3.12 + 0.39 days. The colour of neonate larvae, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth instar was pale green, dark green, dark blue-green, dark blackish-brown and blackish brown, respectively. The average life period of 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th larval instar was 3.34 + 0.32, 2.57 + 0.45, 3.49 + 0.45, 3.11 + 0.67, 3.33 + 0.87 and 2.98 ± 0.33 days, respectively. The pre-pupal and pupal periods was lasted 2-3 and 6-11 days, respectively. The female was long-lived than male. The longevity of males was 6-10 days while the female was 9-12 days. The ovipositional, pre-ovipositional and post ovipositional period was lasted 7.67 + 1.40, 1.74 + 0.51 and 1.78 + 0.45 days, respectively. The study showed that cabbage is a suitable host for pest growth and development and larvae feed vigorously to cabbage leaves.

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