Broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. italica) cultivars, Palam Samridhi and Palam Vichitra affect the growth of Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Shallina Gupta; Ashun Chaudhary; Sumit Singh; Saroj Arora; Satwinder Kaur Sohal

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07612

Broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. italica) cultivars, Palam Samridhi and Palam Vichitra affect the growth of Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Heliyon. 2021 Jul 17;7(7):e07612. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07612. eCollection 2021 Jul.

Authors

Shallina Gupta¹, Ashun Chaudhary^{2

3}, Sumit Singh¹, Saroj Arora², Satwinder Kaur Sohal¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Zoology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, 143005, India.
² Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, 143005, India.
³ Department of Plant Sciences (Botany), Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India.

Abstract

Effect of the ethyl acetate seed extracts of two cultivars of broccoli, Brassica oleracea Italica, Palam Samridhi (PS) and Palam Vichitra (PV) on growth, development and nutritional physiology of an economically important insect pest, Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) was evaluated by conducting bioassays and nutritional assays. The insect larvae were fed on diets amended with the seed extracts of two cultivars at different concentrations viz. 5, 25, 125, 625 and 3125 ppm and taking water as control. The response of the insect varied with plant varieties. The extracts disrupted the developmental cycle of the pest. Larval mortality and total adult emergence were negatively affected. Larval period and total development period were also negatively influenced. Nutritional indices of S. litura also showed considerable decrease in the RGR, RCR, ECI and ECD as compared to control. The AD values were also enhanced with both the cultivars. The findings of the study revealed a considerable anti-insect potential of the two extracts and needs to be further explored for identification and isolation of bioactive constituents from broccoli for efficient management of the pest population.

Keywords: Bioassays; Common cutworm; Development; Glucosinolates; Insects; Nutritional indices; Pesticides.