An experimental line of Upland cotton containing 1.7% gossypol was utilized less efficiently by the bollworm, Heliothis zea (Boddie), than a standard line containing 0.5% gossypol. Also, when gossypol was incorporated into the normal bollworm diet, it caused a decrease in the food utilization of bollworm larvae but had no effect on the utilization of tobacco budworm, H. virescens (F.), though larval weights were suppressed in tobacco budworms fed a gossypol diet. Food consumption by tobacco budworm larvae decreased with increasing gossypol.
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Shaver et al. (1970) studied this question.