Comparison of the Newly Introduced Rearing Methods of Cotton Stainer, Dysdercus koenigii With Classical Methods

Abstract Cotton stainer, Dysdercus koenigii (Hemiptera: Pyrrhocoridae) was reared using four rearing methods including cylindrical perforated plastic bottles (CPPB), cotton seeds in soil (CSS), cotton seeds without soil (CSWS) and integrated rearing technique (IRT) at Lab. maintained temperature 282C along with 705% R.H. Data were recorded on five various parameters including number of egg batches, eggs batch,-1 shortest longevity, longest longevity and transformed %mortality.The cylindrical perforated plastic bottles had the highest water retention capacity than the other rearing techniques and they sucked the moist seed sap in the same behavior as from the cotton bolls in field.INTRODUCTION The cotton having a share of 1.4% in GDP and 6.7% in agriculture value addition is an important source of raw material to the textile industry in Pakistan (PES, 2014).For basic and applied studies like screening of most suitable insecticides, insecticides monitoring on regular basis against insect pests, promotion of biological control of predators and parasitoids, all needs its mass culture comprising different developmental stages.Since large scale rearing of D. koenigii was practically difficult therefore, we conducted experiments on different rearing techniques under laboratory conditions to find out the most suitable, easiest and economical rearing method for sufficient rearing of the pest.