The nourishment derived from natural and artificial diets (both resource rich and poor conditions) does influence the developmental biology and reproduction characteristics in insects. Although, several standardized mass rearing diets are available for rearing P. gossypiella, the researchers continue to study the appropriate composition of constituents in diets to optimize development and reproduction fitness. The range of host plants, their nutritional contents and presence of secondary substances affect the development and reproductive process in many lepidopteran herbivores (33, 34). Through this research work, we empirically demonstrated how larval nutrition from different diets influence the developmental and reproductive fitness of P. gossypiella.
The nutritional quality and quantity of food sources have direct effect on vital aspects of the biology of insects (14, 22). In the current study, we found that, though growth and development of P. gossypiella was faster on NRD, the larvae fed on cotton bolls equally resulted in many developmental parameters of pink bollworm. It is due to, cotton is widely considered as most suitable host plant for P. gossypiella (23) and hence the insect is believed to be acquire proper nourishment. Nutrient constituents were high both qualitatively and quantitatively in NRD, yet, there was no significant difference between NRD and cotton diets with respect to many developmental parameters. In contrast, duration of larval development was considerably longer on okra and NPD diets. The variation in cephalic capsule length in different instars of larvae were observed and recorded maximum cephalic capsule length on NRD suggesting larvae obtained maximum nutrition and grew larger size compared to other treated diets. It is probably due to availability of greater proportion of nutrients in NRD diet for P. gossypiella and no constraints of exposure to plant secondary metabolites, unlike in natural diets. Presence of secondary metabolites like gossypol in cotton is known to implicit negative impact on survival of P. gossypiella larvae and incurred greater energy to degrade such unpalatable content (7). The larval survival rate was low on NPD and it is largely due to deficient quantities of some nutrients such as yeast, sugar, casein and ascorbic acid. Some studies reported that, deficiency in nutrient supplements such as ascorbic acid in the diet resulted in poor survival of larvae of boll weevil, bollworm, Heliothis zea and no survival of salt marsh caterpillar, suggesting importance of every ingredient in the artificial diets (30). Ascorbic acid at 3200 ppm in artificial diets is known to significantly support the growth and development of tobacco caterpillar (17). In general, the nutritional status and larval fitness are likely to be reflected at pupal stage (11, 18). Hence, P. gossypiella displayed faster larval development and recorded maximum pupal weight on NRD and cotton diets. Furthermore, the development of P. gossypiella on NPD and okra diets were slower and attained lowest pupal weight due to insufficient or limitation in nutrient supplements. A positive relationship between female pupal weight and fecundity was noticed on different diets. Pupal weight possibly is an indication of nutrition status at larval stage of insects that regulates the normal growth and fecundity (19). Emergence of moths were also influenced by feeding diets. Adult emergence started early on cotton and NRD diets and was slightly delayed on okra and NPD diets. Interestingly, we observed emergence of males earlier to females on all the diets and adult emergence window was narrow on NRD.
Fitness of insects is greatly enhanced under optimal larval feeding conditions (4, 32). The role of nutrients in the feeding diets during larval stage play a vital role in fecundity and fertility of an insect. Maximum fecundity of P. gossypiella was recorded on NRD compared to NPD due to the presence of optimum quantities of yeast, sugar, casein and ascorbic acid. These diet constituents were significantly reduced in NPD, which may have affected the adult reproductive fitness. The decrease in quantity of hydrolyzed yeast significantly reduced the fecundity and ovary maturation in tephritids (15). Similarly, boll weevil laid fewer eggs when fed with ascorbic acid deficient diet and thus considered as an indispensable nutrient for insect growth and development (30). Between natural diets that we assessed, both fecundity and fertility was significantly higher on cotton compared to okra. Contrast to our findings, other studies reported that higher fecundity of P. gossypiella when larvae were fed with okra over cotton (29, 28). Furthermore, quality and quantity of nutrients is known to have an influence on size and development of spermatheace in insects. Diameter of spermathecae was highest in queen honey bees reared on artificial diet coupled with honey and pollen compared to other diets (10). Similarly, we also observed the maximum length of spermathecae on NRD followed by cotton and lowest spermathecal length on NPD.
P. gossypiella completed its life cycle much faster on NRD and slightly slower on cotton diet. It is possibly due to lesser proportion of nutrients in cotton bolls compared to artificial diet (NRD) and due to the presence of other constitutes viz., terpenes, phenols, proteins, carbohydrates, fatty acids and lipids may slowdown the developmental process (12). On the other hand, okra fruit mostly contains polyphenolic compounds and reduced proportion of nutritive substances like amino acids, fatty acids and carbohydrates which supports normal growth and development of P. gossypiella (16, 24, 27). Hence, among the natural diets, the developmental parameters (larval survival percentage, rate of pupation, pupal weight and adult emergence) and reproductive fitness (fecundity and fertility) of pink bollworm was significantly superior on cotton than on okra.
In this study, we demonstrated the overall performance of P. gossypiella on nutrient rich and poor conditions of both natural and artificial diets. The developmental and reproductive characteristics of pink bollworm including larval survival rate, pupal weight, adult emergence, fecundity and fertility was significantly superior on greater proportion of nutrient diet (NRD) compared to other artificial and natural diets. Therefore, it suggested that maximum fecundity of pink bollworm can be achieved through our improvised diet under laboratory conditions.