Volatile oils control storage pests

AMONG THE storage pests Sitophilus oryzae commonly called as rice weevil infests rice, wheat, corn, sorghum and solid processed products such as pasta and dried cassava.

Reddish brown black adult lays around 150 eggs throughout life. Both the larva and adult feed on the grains creating huge loss and make it unfit for consumption.

Tribolium Castaneum belongs to family Tenebrionidae commonly called as red flour beetle feeds on the damaged seeds by other pests and infests cereals and cereal products.

The reddish brown adults live long and lay upto ten eggs every day. Thus increasing the population at a rate of up to 70-100 times a month.

Callosobruchus maculatus belongs to family Bruchidae commonly called, as pulse beetle is a major pest infests cowpea, green gram, pigeon pea, red gram etc. The damage can be seen in the seeds that show large bore holes on the surface.

Its infestation starts in the field when the pod maturity starts. The non-feeding adult lays 80-120 eggs and the fleshy, cured, creamy while black headed larva feeds on cotyledon until only the seed coat remains.

Lasioderma sericorne belongs to family Anobiidae commonly called as cigarette beetle.

The brown non-feeding adult lays loose eggs and the larva burrows into the grains and starts feeding on processed pulses, seeds and turmeric. Active and strong flying adults live for 2-6 weeks.

Laboratory studies conducted at ERI, proved the use of volatile oils from Mentha spicata (mint), Mentha arvensis (Japanese mint), Mentha piperata (peppermint), Cymbopogon nardus (Citronella) for effective control of these stored product pests. Mentha spicata was found effective in grains stored for 6 months.

For short-term storage any one of the oil can be used in the range of 1ml to 10 ml per closed storage container of 10 kg capacity. For application, the oil should be painted on the container walls or directly mixed with seeds.

N. Raja, S.Janarthanan & S.Ignacimuthu

Entomology Research Institute

Loyola College, Chennai-34

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