EFFECT OF HOST PLANTS AND TOXICITY OF SOME LEAF EXTRACTS ON THE BIOLOGY OF LEMON BUTTERFLY Papilio demoleus L. (PAPILIONIDAE: LEPIDOPTERA)

Abstract

Three laboratory investigations were conducted with the lemon butterfly Papilio demoleus, Papilionidae, Lepidoptera at the Department of Entomology, and Agricultural Chemistry, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur during May to September 2009. In the first experiment, the biology of the butterfly was studied having 3 feeding treatments having 10 replications with the medium matured leaves of its 3 host plants: wood apple/bael, Aegle marmelos L.; elephant’s apple/koth bael, Feronia limonia L. and Lime/ pati lebu, Citrus aurantifolia L. Here, the premating period, mating period, preoviposition period, oviposition period, fecundity, hatching of eggs, incubation period, food consumption, excreta, length, breadth, weight and period of different larval instars, pupal length, breadth, weight and period, adult male and female body length, breadth and weight and adult longevity were studied carefully. In the second one, the toxic effects of the medium matured leaf extracts of the 3 species: marigold, Tagetes erecta L.; ata, Annona reticulata L. and korobi, Nerium oleander L. having 3 concentrations: 0.25, 0.50 and 1.00% with one control, were explored. Here, the studied features were direct toxicity in 5" instar larvae. In third one, the chemical investigation of ata leaf extract was done. The first investigation showed that the premating periods were statistically different with food sources ranging from 2.24 + 0.05 to 2.12 + 0.04 days. The longest mating period was recorded when reared on Koth bael. The oviposition periods were statistically notable having the span of 2.5 + 0.10 to 2.0 + 0.00 days. The highest number of eggs (22.50 + 1.20) and the percent egg hatching (96.89 + 2.56) was found when reared on Pati lebu and the poorest number of eggs (18.25 + 1.56) and percent egg hatching (91.33 + 3.41) were experienced when reared on Koth bael. Significantly, the topmost food consumptions (0.58 + 0.06), (1.65 + 0.03), (2.90 + 0.34), (3.80 + 0.22) and (4.25 + 0.29) g were found in the1*, 2"4, 34, 4" and 5" instars, respectively when reared on the Pati lebu leaves. Conversely, the lowest food consumptions (0.38 + 0.02), (0.72 + 0.12), (1.75 + 0.10), (1.98 + 0.14) and (2.60 + 0.10) g were recorded when reared on Koth bael for those instars, in that order. Again, in the * 4" and 5 instars, the maximum amount of the wet excreta (0.259 + 0.05), (0.431+ 0.067) and (1.713 + 0.20) g were weighed when reared on Pati lebu while the least (0.141 + 0.43), (0.223 + 0.038) and (0.996 + 0.36) g were measured in bael. In the 5" instar, the highest (39.64 + 0.51) and the lowest (36.32 + 0.65) mm larval lengths were noted in Pati lebu and Koth bael but the highest breadth (9.36 + 0.0.29) mm was recorded in Pati lebu that was similar to Bael (8.80 + 0.0.36) mm and the poorest (8.34 + 0.0.1) mm was found in Koth bael. The range of the 1“, 2™, 4" and 5" instars larval periods were 5.82 + 0.21 to 5.50 + 0.18, 4.58 + 0.21 to 4.38 + 0.10, 2.78 + 0.18 to 2.50 + 0.25 and 4.66 + 0.28 to 4.24 + 0.28 days in Koth bael and Pati lebu, respectively. Significantly the highest pupal length (31.64 + 0.43) mm was recorded when reared on Pati lebu, which was identical to that of Koth bael (31.62 + 0.32) mm and the lowest pupal length was found in Bael (30.68 + 0.25) mm. The highest adult male length (25.92 + 0.19) mm was found in Pati lebu and the lowest (24.72 + 0.29) mm was in Koth bael. The highest adult female length (27.40 + 0.43) mm was experienced in Pati lebu and the shortest (25.90 + 0.40) mm was in Koth bael. The second study vividly pointed-out that the leaf-extracts played a vital role in suppressing the butterfly. Among those, the extract of ata leaf showed better performance in suppressing both at 0.50 and 1.00% over the control. Furthermore, the third experimental result suggested that the TLC (Thin Layer Chromatography) of ethanol extract of common ata leaf showed distinctly three compounds, which might play notable roles for the toxicity and these were designated as S;, S2, and S3.