Abstract:
Helicoverpa armigera
(Hübner) is one of
the major limiting factors in host plant
production in the world and Iran. In this study, the effect of semi
-
artificial diets based on
the seeds of different cultivars of white and red kidney bean, canola, soybean, and cowpea
on eco
-
physiological parameter
s of
H. armigera
were investigated. The results showed that
the shortest (22.71 days) and longest (28.94 days) development time of
H. armigera
was
observed on cowpea cultivar Mashhad and canola cultivar Opera, respectively. The
maximum immature mortality o
f
H. armigera
was on soybean cultivars M7 and Clark.
Cowpea cultivar Mashhad had the highest
r
(0.299 day
-
1
). The lowest level of proteolytic
activity was 2.829 U mg
-
1
on soybean cultivar M7 for the 3
rd
instar larvae, 2.525 U mg
-
1
on
soybean cultivars Crar
k for the 4
th
instar larvae, and 2.292 U mg
-
1
on soybean cultivar
Sari for the 5
th
instar larvae. Nutritional indices of 3
rd
, 4
th
, 5
th
, 6
th
and whole instar larvae
of
H. armigera
were affected by the artificial diets, i.e. seeds of different cultivars.
Acc
ording to the results, semi
-
artificial diets containing bean seeds (specifically cowpea
cultivar Mashhad and white kidney bean cultivar Daneshkadeh) were more suitable than
semi
-
artificial diets containing soybean and canola seeds for rearing of
H. armiger
a
.
Keywords:
Beans, Cowpea, Enzyme, Life table.
