Host preference and digestibility indices of Spodoptera litura (Fab.) on different host plants under laboratory condition

The present studies were undertaken at Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, Dapoli (M.S.) during 2017-18 to study the host preference and digestibility indices of Spodoptera litura (Fab.) on different host plants under laboratory condition. The data on digestibility indices of S. litura on different hosts revealed that, efficiency of conversion of ingested food (ECI), Efficiency of conversion of digested food (ECD), Consumption rate (CR) and Relative growth rate (RGR) were found to be maximum on the Castor (21.82%, 23.14%, 0.92 and 3.51, respectively). The ECI and ECD were found minimum on Taro i.e. 12.59 and 12.71 per cent, respectively. AD was highest on Taro (98.82%) and lowest on Castor (95.01%). The mean CI value was highest on Taro (5.67) and lowest on Groundnut (3.89). The best host of S. litura in laboratory was castor. Tapioca and cowpea were worst and other hosts were intermediate host.