Food-energy-budget for different lepidopteran moths.
Goel S. C., Kumar A., Jasvir Singh, Kumar V., Rao P. K.
Author Affiliation: PG-Department of Zoology, S.D. College, Muzaffranagar - 251 001, India.
: 187-194
Abstract : The nutritional profile and food-energy-budget of four lepidopteran insects, namely Lymantria marginata (a major mango pest), Trabala vishnou (a defoliator of castor), Spilosoma obliqua [Spilarctia obliqua] and Plusia orichalcea [Thysanoplusia orichalcea] (the pests of sunflower), are discussed to understand the energy flow in an ecosystem. The host plants are the main source of energy, which are utilized by the herbivores at different trophic levels. The eggs and pupal stages have higher caloric values than the larval and adult stages. The successive gain in biomass and calories at each instar compensated the energy requirement at each ecdysis and further to support and internal preparedness for the pupal stage. The approximate digestibility decreases, whereas the efficiencies of conversion of ingested food and digested food increase during first to last instar larvae. It indicates that later instars are more efficient in transforming assimilated energy into the caterpillar biomass. The tissue growth is considered the net productivity, which up to 7.88% of the average ingested food remains available for the next trophic level.