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Suitability of Centella asiatica (pegaga) as a food source for rearing Spodoptera litura (F.) (lepidoptera: noctuidae) under laboratory conditions


Citation

Javar, Saeedeh and Sajap, Ahmad Said and Mohamed, Rozi and Lau, Wei Hong (2013) Suitability of Centella asiatica (pegaga) as a food source for rearing Spodoptera litura (F.) (lepidoptera: noctuidae) under laboratory conditions. Journal of Plant Protection Research, 53 (2). pp. 184-189. ISSN 1427-4345; ESSN: 1899-007X

Abstract

When conducting entomological research, it is necessary to have a sufficient quantity of the desired pest. One of the pests commonly used in research is Spodoptera litura. Mass rearing of herbivorous caterpillars like S. litura requires large amounts of a suitable food source. Hence, the use of an easy-to-grow host plant would be most practical and reasonable. Centella asiatica known as ‘pegaga’ grows easily, produces plenty of leaves, and is available throughout the year in Malaysia. The suitability of C. asiatica as a food source for S. litura was evaluated by studying the biology of this pest on excised C. asiatica leaves, under laboratory conditions. S. litura completed its whole life cycle in 29 to 35 days. The mean pupal weight and the average number of eggs laid by a single female were 0.341 g and 1,930 eggs, respectively. Daily monitoring of the larval development stages as well as analysis on the width of head capsules, revealed the existence of six instars during the larval stages of S. litura. The cumulative survival rate for immature developmental stages was 80%, while the stage-specific survivorship was over 90%. This study demonstrated the use of ‘pegaga’ as a suitable new food source for when rearing S. litura larvae in the laboratory.


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Additional Metadata

Item Type: Article
Divisions: Faculty of Agriculture
Faculty of Forestry
DOI Number: https://doi.org/10.2478/jppr-2013-0028
Publisher: De Gruyter Open
Keywords: Biology; Centella asiatica; Rearing; Spodoptera litura; Survival
Depositing User: Nurul Ainie Mokhtar
Date Deposited: 25 Apr 2016 02:22
Last Modified: 25 Apr 2016 02:22
Altmetrics: http://www.altmetric.com/details.php?domain=psasir.upm.edu.my&doi=10.2478/jppr-2013-0028
URI: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/29115
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