author(s)
Sachin Kumar Jaiswal and Jayalaxmi Ganguli

abstract
Parthenium hysterophorus (Linnaeus), well known worldwide as ‘carrot grass’ or ‘white top’ or ‘congress grass’ and ‘Gajar Ghans’ or ‘Chatak Chandni’ in Hindi, belongs to family Asteraceae, It can only be managed effectively by developing an integrated approach involving many options in combination. The biological control of Parthenium was explored through a leaf beetle, Zygogramma bicolorata Pallister, at Biocontrol laboratory, Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Z. bicolorata is considered as a safe biocontrol agent but till now it is not well established and spread in Chhattisgarh. Therefore, the present study was carried out to investigate the detailed life cycle, duration and site of different life stages being spent. The study revealed that the female beetle laid about 683.22±14.18 eggs and grub hatched after 3 to 5 days. There were four larval stages which fed on Parthenium for 12 to 18 days. After 4^th instar, it entered into soil for pupation at mean depth of 1.93±0.31. The beetles emerged after 8-10 days and completed their life cycle in about 55 to 83 days. Both the adults and grub (grubs) were capable of feeding on Parthenium leaves.