A Soybean-Wheat Germ Diet for Rearing the Tobacco Budworm1,2,3

Abstract

When soybean meal and flour were used instead of casein in the wheat germ diet fed to larvae of tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens (F.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), the cost of the diet was reduced $0.07 per liter. Larval growth on the soybean diet was equal to that on diet containing casein whether ¾-oz plastic cups or cell units were used. Average yield from 145 trays (each 30.5×61.0×4.0 cm) over a 3-month period was 776.6 pupae per tray.