Mass rearing diet for the pink bollworm Pectinophora gossypiella (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) and its susceptibility to insecticidal Bt proteins

• Published in: International journal of tropical insect science Vol. 29; no. 2; pp. 102 - 107
• Main Authors: Muralimohan, K., Kamath, S.P., Mohan, K.S., Ravi, K.C., Deeba, Farah, Sivasupramaniam, Sakuntala, Head, Graham P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.06.2009; Springer International Publishing; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Bioassays; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Bt cotton; Bt proteins; Cry1Ac; Cry2Ab2; Diet; Entomology; Gelechiidae; Larvae; Lepidoptera; Life Sciences; mass culture; Neonates; Pectinophora gossypiella; Pectinophora gossypiella; Cry2Ab2; Cry1Ac; mass culture; Bt proteins; Bt cotton; cotton; proteins
• ISSN: 1742-7584; 1742-7592
• DOI: 10.1017/S1742758409990129

A study was carried out to develop a diet for mass rearing of the pink bollworm Pectinophora gossypiella (Saund.) and optimize bioassays for testing the bollworm's sensitivity to two insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). A P. gossypiella colony was established in the laboratory from field collections and its developmental biology was compared on various test diets. Larvae reared on a diet of cottonseed and chickpea flours for the first 10 days and subsequently on pieces of okra attained rapid growth and development. This two-phase diet has been used for successful laboratory rearing of 51 generations of the bollworm. Neonates were found to be sensitive to both the Bt proteins Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab2, which are produced by the transgenic Bt cotton products Bollgard™ and Bollgard II™.