Bionomics of the rice meal moth, Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton) reared under laboratory condition on different diets
The rice meal moth, Corcyra cephalonica Stainton is one of the serious insect pests of stored milled rice and other milled cereal products in India. But another economic importance of this insect is that the eggs of these insects are used as diet to mass multiply the bio-agent like Trichogramma spp. We studied the biology and bionomics of this pest under controlled laboratory conditions. An experiment was conducted during July 2015 to October 2015 in the Biological Control laboratory, Department of Entomology, IGKV, Raipur at 27 0C + 20 0C (and 75+5% RH to study the different diet performance on the biology and bionomics of rice moth, C. cephalonica. Five cereals viz., rice, wheat, pearlmillet (jowar), sorghum (bajra) and maize were tested solely along with their combinations. The female moth had longer body length and weight as compared to male moth. Both male and female reared on mixed diet with a combination of (rice+jowar+maize) had maximum body weight and body length. There was a high positive co-relation between fecundity and female body weight. The mixed diet of rice +jowar +maize was highly superior, in comparison to others for mass production of C. cephalonica. The shortest life cycle was found in the combinations of bajra + jowar + maize up to 35 and 40 days respectively and longest life cycle was found in rice extending of 60 to 70 days.