Department of Entomology, Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur-176 062, Himachal Pradesh (India).
*Present Address: 13517, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004 Punjab (India).
The biology of Plutella xylostella L. was studied at Palampur, Himachal Pradesh (India). The incubation period of eggs was 3–4 days. It passed through four instars, the larval periods for the first, second, third and fourth instars being 2–3, 1–1.5, 1–2 and 1.5–2.5 days, respectively. The pupal period ranged from 3–5 days. Adult longevity in respect of males and females was 6–9 and 14–20 days, respectively. Pre-oviposition, oviposition and post-oviposition periods were 2–4, 6–7 and 5–14 days, respectively. Fecundity of the female varied from 147–251 eggs. The dimensions of egg, larva, pupa and adult were also recorded. Diadegma fenestralis (Halmgren) and Apanteles cirphicola (Bhat-nagar) were the major parasitoids operating in the area.
