Host preference and digestibility indices of Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on different host plants under laboratory condition

xThe present studies were undertaken at Biocontrol Research Laboratory, Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh during 2019-20 to study the host preference and digestibility indices of Spodoptera frugiperda on different host plants under laboratory condition. The data on digestibility indices of S. frugiperda on different hosts revealed that, relative growth rate (RGR), relative consumption rate (RCR), efficiency of conversion of ingested food (ECI), efficiency of conversion of digested food (ECD) and approximate digestibility (AD) were found to be maximum on the maize (1.14, 2.71, 41.87%, 46.55% and 89.94%, respectively) and were found minimum on cotton i.e. 0.88, 2.44, 36.21%, 43.97% and 82.35%, respectively. ECD was highest on castor (46.78%) and lowest on mung bean (42.91%). The best host of S. frugiperda in laboratory was maize. Cotton and bajara were worst and other hosts were intermediate host.