Vol. 12, Issue 3 (2023)

Author(s):
Sheela N, SB Patil, Manjula S Maralappanavar, DN Kambrekar and SMD Akbar

Abstract:
The studies on biology of pink bollworm was carried out under laboratory conditions at Agriculture Research Station, Dharwad farm, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad during 2020-21 and 2021-22 consecutive cropping seasons using different Bt cotoon events viz., MON 531 (Suraj Bt), Fusion Bt event( Arjun-21 Bt), UASD-78, MON 15985 event (Everest Bt and Puli Bt), UASD-78 Bt HxH-25 and UASD-78 Bt HxB-2 and non Bt cotton, RAH 100 non Bt. The larvae were reared on bolls of different Bt cotton genotypes of commercially available events and non Bt cotton. Considerable variation in larval period of Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) on different Bt cotton genotypes was recorded. The shortest larval period of 18.53±1.80 days was recorded when the larvae were fed RAH 100 non Bt, whereas the longest larval period of 23.92±1.34 days was recorded on Fusion Bt event (Arjun-21 Bt). Generally, female lived longer than males on all the events. The females fed on RAH 100 non Bt laid maximum number of eggs (137.13±14.05 eggs/female) as compared to those on Bt cotton (103.02±12.03 eggs/female). The total life cycle of P. gossypiella from egg to death of adult varied significantly on different events comprising Bt cotton genotypes, which was significantly longer on Fusion Bt event (Arjun-21 Bt) (47.12±0.43 days) than on RAH 100 non Bt (38.35±0.87 days).