Eco-friendly organic management of rust red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) under stored conditions

Abstract

The results showed that neem leaf powder was the most effective treatment with a record of the highest mean adult mortality of 67.22 per cent and also exhibited the lowest weight loss of 0.67 per cent after 60 days of treatment. It was followed by powders of Eucalyptus (58.89% & 0.87%) and Tulsi (51.11% & 0.80%). The least effectiveness of turmeric rhizome powder against the pest recording minimum adult mortality and maximum weight loss of 30.56% and 1.07% per cent respectively was noticed control against adult mortality (30.56 %), grain weight loss and adult emergence owing to T. castaneum. As a result, 1.5 g/100 g of grains of neem leaf powder can be recommended as a safe control method against T. castaneum in stored wheat. The overall mean adult mortality of T. castaneum in fenvalerate was 72.78 per cent. When it came to treating T. castneum with some inert materials, boric acid treatment was the most effective showed the 100 percent adult mortality, followed by coal ash (71.67 %) and cow dung ash (63.33 %) after 5 days of storage. There was minimum grain weight loss and least adult emergence was recorded in the treatment of coal ash and cow dung ash. Whereas sawdust resulted in the least effective treatment with mean adult mortality of (35.56 %), there was maximum adult emergence seen.