author(s)
S. Arivoli 1* and Samuel Tennyson

abstract
Crude extracts of twenty five plants were screened for their antifeedant activitiy against the third instar larvae of Spodoptera litura. Among the plants tested, maximum antifeedant activity was noted in five promising plants viz., ethyl acetate extract of Strychnos nuxvomica (88.98), hexane extracts of Vitex negundo (86.41) and Murraya koeingii (81.46), ethyl acetate extract of Zanthoxylum limonella (80.58) and hexane extract of Abrus precatorius (78.61) while rest of the plants exhibited varying degree of moderate or lesser toxic effects at one per cent concentration. Amongst, the promising five plants tested, maximum and minimum time taken for larval period was recorded in hexane extract of Vitex negundo (23.73) and ethyl acetate extract of Zanthoxylum limonella (17.24) respectively and for pupation it was recorded in hexane extract of Murraya koeingii (13.12) and ethyl acetate extract of Strychnos nuxvomica (9.98) respectively. Adult longevity was maximum in hexane extract of Murraya koeingii (9.02) and minimum in ethyl acetate extract of Strychnos nuxvomica (7.29) from total number of larvae treated. The treated larvae were unambigusly smaller that its control counterpart and several deformities in head size, body length and darkened colouration on wings were observed.