Biology and fertility life table of Agrotis ipsilon on artificial diet

The objective of this work was to develop an artificial diet to rear Agrotis ipsilon in laboratory using biological parameters and fertility life table. The artificial diet was prepared with bean, casein, soybean protein, yeast and wheat germ as protein sources. The biological aspects duration and viability of larval and pupal stages, pupal weight, sex ratio, life span of adults, preoviposition period, egg laying capacity and fertility life table were evaluated. Six larval instars were observed comprising larval duration of 28.4 days and 93% of viability mean pupal duration of 12.4 days and viability of 96%. The total viability of the life cycle was 72%. The pupae weight was 387 mg for males and 484 mg for females. The sex ratio was 0.46 and the preoviposition period lasted one day and egg laying was 1,806 eggs per female. The net reproductive rate per generation and increase finite rate were 616.9 and 1.14, respectively. Artificial diet is adequate for rearing A. ipsilon in laboratory.