~ 3182 ~ Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2018; 6(2): 3182-3185 E-ISSN: 2320-7078 P-ISSN: 2349-6800 JEZS 2018; 6(2): 3182-3185 © 2018 JEZS Received: 17-01-2018 Accepted: 18-02-2018 Rabin Mandi Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya Mohanpur, Dist- Nadia, West Bengal, India Aniruddha Pramanik Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya Mohanpur, Dist- Nadia, West Bengal, India Correspondence Rabin Mandi Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya Mohanpur, Dist- Nadia, West Bengal, India Effect of eco-friendly pesticides on mortality, growth and development of Spodoptera litura (Fab.) in laboratory condition Rabin Mandi and Aniruddha Pramanik Abstract The present experiments were conducted at IPM Laboratory, Directorate of Research, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, to find out the efficacy and toxicity of some eco-friendly pesticides against cabbage borer, Spodoptera litura (Fab.). Among the treatments maximum mortality (91.25%) was noticed in diflubenzurn + deltamethrin 22% SC @ 0.022% at 7 th day of observation but at par with that of (91.13%) abamectin 400FS@ 0.02%. The highest growth index (5.00) was noted in untreated control as compared to the lowest growth index (1.03) which was observed in diflubenzurn + deltamethrin 22% SC @ 0.01%. The lowest larval pupal index (1.24) and lowest survival index (0.33) of Spodoptera litura was obtained in case of Bacillus thuringiensis @ 0.1%. From this study it can be said that among five different pesticides, Bacillus thuringiensis, revealed higher susceptibility to Spodoptera on the basis of the percent pupation and adult emergence. Keywords: Spodoptera litura, eco-friendly pesticides, food consumption indices, tobacco caterpillar Introduction Among the foliage feeding insect Spodoptera litura, commonly known as tobacco caterpillar is most destructive polyphagous agricultural lepidopteran pest, which attacks more than 90 plant species in at least 18 families including Cruciferae, Solanaceae, Malvaceae, Fabaceae, that causes severe economic damage to main crops such as cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, sugar beet, maize, cotton and tomato (Mehrkhou et al. 2012 a,b) [11, 10] . The cabbage borer, Spodoptera litura causes economic losses of crops from 25.8-100% based on crop stage and its infestation level in the field (Dhir et al. 1992) [4] . To manage the pest, farmer used different kinds of chemical insecticides. Intensive and successive applications of broad spectrum chemical insecticides for insect pest management may cause rush of problems, such as insecticides resistance to different insect, environmental pollution and its results, increase in the costs of insect pest management and mainly, the death of natural enemies. The current trends of modern society towards ‘green consumerism’ and growing awareness of health and environmental issues associated with the intensive use of chemical pesticides has lead to interest in alternate forms of pest management technique in the world. Hence, to minimize the use of chemical pesticides, there is an important need for find out the safer, alternative crop protectants ie eco-friendly pesticides. The insect like to feed and oviposit on high quality plants (Chen et al. 2004, Purudic et al. 2005) [2, 12] to ensure the availability of better food for their progeny. Quality and quantity of food consumed by the pest can affect its entire biology, rate of growth, development, reproduction (Khedr et al. 2015, Reese 1978) [9, 13] . The growth index emphasizes the importance of both survival and development time in calculating food quality. For making suitable and sustainable management practice of Spodoptera litura, knowledge on the larval feeding behaviour, growth, development and host characteristics are very important. An attempt has been made in the present investigation to find out- (1) The efficacy of eco-friendly pesticides against Spodoptera litura larvae. (2) To assess the usefulness of indices based on consumption and utilization of eco-friendly pesticides treated cabbage leaves against cabbage borer.