Rearing of the beet webworm Loxostege sticticalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) under laboratory conditions using an artificial diet

Abstract

The beet webworm Loxostege sticticalis is an economically important polyphagous pest causing serious damage to many agricultural crops. The work is devoted to the development of the methodology of propagation of beet webworm on an artificial diet. The peculiarities of the beet webworm maintenance at all stages of development are described. The weight of L. sticticalis pupae obtained from the larvae fed on natural feed (leaves of the burdock Arctium lappa) and artificial diet was compared. The results showed that there were no decrease in pupal weight after transferring insects to the artificial diet and maintenance for 50 generations. This indicates a sufficient accumulation of reserve substances during larval feeding with the diet. We have developed the method of continuous rearing the beet webworm on artificial diet, which allows continuously obtaining insects in laboratory conditions.