There are, of course, other methods that have been developed for the reduction of destruction to agricultural crops from pest insects such as the Manduca sexta, including the use of aqueous vermicompost solutions as fertilizers for plant growth (Edwards et al. 2010). The efficacy of such other endeavors arguably questions the need for the creation of food alternatives for the purposes of crop protection, and the current research definitely suggests that greater difficulties would be had in this area than in developing other plant-focused (rather than pest-focused) means of protecting crops and the interests of agribusiness. The increased growth rate of the artificial food source could also lead to problems with growing populations of the pest insect, leading to greater destruction by subsequent generations.

Ultimately, however, further research into the creation of alternative food sources is suggested before such methods and endeavors are entirely scrapped. The research clearly shows that artificially created food sources can be utilized by the Manduca sexta larvae, and further adjustments to artificial food might lead to the creation of a laboratory-created food source that Manduca sexta larvae show a preference for and that might even inhibit growth or reproduction, making for a far more effective means of controlling populations of the pest insect than have currently been developed. The increased growth potential exhibited by the laboratory-created food source used in this experiment, however, would actually be detrimental to such purposes, however, as the increased growth rate will simply lead to the increased consumption of food, and with a preference shown for the leaves of common agricultural crops this would lead to even more widespread and complete destruction of the crops, rather...

The reasons behind the different observed growth rates are not specifically established by the research at hand, and further research is suggested in order to determine the precise nutritive components that have led to the increased growth rates observed when the caterpillars were fed the laboratory-created food. A better understanding of the nutritional needs and metabolic processes of these insects will yield more practically applicable information, as well.
References

Edwards, C.; Arancon, N.; Vasko-Bennet, M.; Askar, a. & Keeney, G. (2010). "Effect of aqueous extracts from vermicomposts on attacks by cucumber beetles (Acalymna vittatum) on cucumbers and tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) on tomatoes." Pedobiologia 53(2), pp. 141-8.

Kingsolver, J. (2007). "Variation in growth and instar number in field and laboratory Manduca sexta." Proceedings - Royal Society. Biological sciences 274(1612), pp. 977-81.

Nijhout, H.; Smith, W. & Schachar, I. (2007). "The control of growth and differentiation of the wing imaginal disks of Manduca sexta." Developmental biology 302(2), pp. 569-76.

Pauchet, Y.; Wilkinson, P.; Vogel, H. & Nelson, D. (2010). "Pyrosequencing the Manduca sexta larval midgut transcriptome: messages for digestion, detoxification and defence." Insect molecular biology 19(1), pp. 61-75.

Petersen, C.; Woods, H. & Kingsolver, J. (2000). "Stage-specific effects of temperature and dietary protein on growth and survival of Manduca sexta caterpillars. Physiological entomology 25(1), pp. 35-40.