Genetic and morphometric variability in Spodoptera litura Fabricius populations from different agro climatic zones of India

Abstract

Spodoptera litura (Fabricius), commonly known as tobacco caterpillar, is a polyphagous pest causing considerable damage to an array of crops of economic importance in India. Its wide range of dispersion, higher mobility, fecundity and presence in crop ecosystems belonging to almost all agro-climatic conditions has continuously exposed it to several biotic and abiotic factors and thus has coerced it to show differential susceptibility to wide spectrum of insecticides of chemical and botanical origins, and climatic conditions. newline