Abstract:
Three edible legumes i.e. mung bean, chickpea, and cowpea, were subjected to infestation
by, Callosobruchus maculatus to study the host preference under laboratory conditions.
Present study also indicated that previous life history does not affect the host preference of
adults as C.maculatus adults reared on mung bean, chick pea and cowpea always preferred
to lay eggs on mung bean seeds despite their original rearing seeds. This food preference
was significant (p<.05) when adults were provided with mung bean and chick pea mixture
to lay eggs. Host preference was not significant when the adults were provided with chick
pea, cowpea mixture or cowpea mung Dean mixture. This indicates that mung bean was
found to be the most preferred host for C. maculatus than the other two tested legume
varieties.
