Abstract
Tribolium castaneum is one of the most economically important insects that damages stored products. The effects of several infested or uninfested raw feed materials (wheat bran, coarse wheat meal, corn feed flour), feed products (compound feed for pigs and for laying hens) and flour mixed with brewer's yeast on the food-searching behaviour of T. castaneum adults were studied in a total of 48 combinations. Preference and olfactometer tests revealed that all the tested uninfested and intraspecific infested substrates were significantly more attractive to T. castaneum than the control (represented by part of an arena or olfactometer arm without substrate). We determined that all infested substrates were 2-9 times more attractive than uninfested in the preference test, while in the olfactometer test, they were 3-8 times more attractive. In comparing the attractiveness of the infested and uninfested substrates, in both tests wheat bran was found to be the most attractive substrate to T. castaneum adults and coarse wheat meal the least. The results of the present study contribute to our knowledge of how raw feed materials and products influence the behaviour of T. castaneum and their susceptibility to infestation, and indicate the possible utilization of wheat bran in monitoring processes of T. castaneum in pest management programmes.
Highlights
The red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), is one of the most harmful stored-product secondary insect pests (Rees, 2004; Mahroof and Hagstrum, 2012)
The results of the present study revealed the great influence of the odours of feed materials and feed products on the searching behaviour of T. castaneum adults
The odours of uninfested substrates showed a significant attractiveness to the species, while infestation of substrates enhanced their attractiveness
Summary
The red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), is one of the most harmful stored-product secondary insect pests (Rees, 2004; Mahroof and Hagstrum, 2012). Odour is one of the most important stimuli. Olfactory organs in the insects receive air-borne chemical stimuli (odours) that affect their behaviour (Su et al, 2009; Phillips and Throne, 2010) and lead them to food sources (Ajayi et al, 2015; Arnold et al, 2015), partners (Tewari et al, 2015) or places suitable for laying eggs (Barrer and Jay, 1980). Food odour is an evaporable substance or a mixture of substances emanated from a food source and spread by air (Olsson, 2001)
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