Adisura atkinsoni Moore

Adisura atkinsoni is a serious pest of field beans in Karnataka and several other states. The female moth deposits eggs on the pods. One to 5 eggs may be deposited on each pod depending upon the position of the plant. The eggs hatch in 3 days and larvae bore into the pod and damage the seeds. Once the larvae are full fed in 14-15 days, they descend to the ground, from an earthen cell at a depth of 3.0 to 13.0 cm and pupate in it. The insect passes through four generations. The pupae of the three non-diapausing generations complete their development in 12-17 days and that of diapausing generation in 7 months.

An artificial diet for rearing Adisura atkinsoni has been developed at Bangalore. The diet consist of soybean flour 15 gm, leaf powder of lablab 5gm, casein 10g, yeast 5 g, glucose 4gm, wheat germ 10gm and agar agar 8gm. The diet is prepared the same way as for Helicoverpa armigera. This has facilitated large scale multiplication of this host for production of its natural enemies.