Department of Agricultural Entomology, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai - 625 104, Tamil Nadu, India
The evaluation of three honey based semi-synthetic adult diets along with scale insects (Hemiberlesia lataniae) on fecundity of Chilocorus nigrita (Fabricius) indicated that adults fed with the mixture of honey 50% + multivitamin 10% + tocopheryl acetate 0.5% had increased the oviposition period from 27 to 33 days and enhanced the egg production by 27.8 per cent (1562.7 eggs/10 females) over the adult fed on scale insects with honey 50 per cent, recording a total of 1222.3 eggs/10 females during 27 days of oviposition. Among various non-living materials used as substrate for oviposition of C. nigrita, the absorbent cotton measuring 4×4 cm was identified as best substrate, receiving 31.7 per cent of eggs (441.9 eggs) whereas it was 39.2 per cent (546.7 eggs) on pumpkin.
