Prior to hydrolysis lyophilization of test sample was found indispensible to remove excess moisture which interferes in hydrolysis and separation of amino acids. After the hydrolysis of plant and insect sample 500 and 100 ml of boiling HCl respectively for reconstitution and 20 ml of hydrolyzed sample used for derivatization provided best results.
Gradient profile of mobile phase and run time up to 65 min were standardized to (i) overcome the problems related to eluting underivatized sample part, (ii) optimize the use of mobile phase and time, and (iii) get bettle separation of different amino acids. Analysis of Chilo partellus larvae on sorghum seedling powder baesd artificial diet indicated that arginine and histidine quantities were lower in sorghum seedlings than in C. partellus larvae, suggesting compensation of these amino acids by the insect through voracious feeding, as is being expected from artificial diet. This method was found highly sensitive, reproducible and useful for the analysis of amino acids for better understanding of insect-plaืt interactions