Substitutes for Agar in a Wheat Germ Diet Used to Rear the Corn Earworm and the Sugarcane Borer1,2,3,4

In rearing Heliothis zea (Boddie) over 5 successive generations, soyflour-wheat germ diets that contained cottonwood sawdust or corncob grits instead of the normal amount of agar were superior to diet containing oak sawdust in all criteria evaluated: larval development and mortality, pupation, pupal development and mortality, and adult emergence. In rearing Diatraea saccharalis (F.) over 5 successive generations, similar diets containing cottonwood sawdust or corncob grits were superior to diet containing oak sawdust and were about equal in performance, except for pupal development. The ♀ pupae produced from diet containing corncob grits were larger than those from diet containing cottonwood sawdust, and pupal development for both sexes were longer.