Search

Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) is the most important pest of maize and constitutes an ideal host for mass rearing of some natural enemies. Three substrates were tested: Zea mays, Cucurbita pepo, and Racinus communis to produce a more efficient and cheaper diet for mass production of S. frugiperda to be used as host. The life cycle of S. frugiperda did not differ in the duration of adult emergence between Z. mays (32.3 ± 0.4) and R. communis (32.8 ± 1.4), while C. pepo had the longest duration (37.0 ± 0.5). The difference in its biological cycle was observed when feeding larvae with R. communis leaves, which presented the best biological attributes such as higher percentage of egg hatching (95%), higher percentage of pupae (93%), higher percentage of adult emergence (78%), and higher number of eggs in the next generation (1,569 ± 32). Life tables showed low mortality rate (qx) and high life expectancy when fall armyworm larvae were fed R. communis. The logrank test indicated a difference between the different life tables between C. pepo and Z. mayz; C. pepo and R. communis; and R. communis and Z. mayz, with R. communis a better substrate for rearing S. frugiperda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]