Mass Production of the Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus (NPV) of Helicoverpa armigera and Spodoptera litura

Nuclear polyhedrosis viruses (NPVs) are baculoviruses which are pathogens of insects belonging to orders namely, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera and Diptera. The important insect viruses are Helicoverpa armigera NPV, Spodoptera litura NPV, Autographa californica NPV, Plutella xylostella GV, Spodoptera exigua NPV and others. Mass production of NPV on commercial scale is restricted to in vivo procedures in host larvae which are obtained by Field collection of H. armigera and S.litura , and mass culturing in the laboratory in semisynthetic diet. The NPVs, being obligate pathogens and highly host specific, have to be isolated from their respective host insects either from laboratory colonies or from the insect populations collected from host plants in the field. Baculoviruses are obligate pathogens having high degree of host-specificity; therefore they can be mass produced only in respective host insects. Insect viruses are multiplied in-vivo on host larvae and also in-vitro on insect cell lines.