Abstract
BackgroundThe red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), is a serious pest of stored grain commodities worldwide which results in considerable losses to stored wheat, Triticum aestivum (Linn.).Main bodyThe present laboratory bioassay was carried out to examine the efficiency of the fungus, Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) formulation (Racer TM), and Neem extract (NE), Eucalyptus extract (EE), and Tobacco extract (TE) against 3rd instar larvae of T. castaneum. The fungal formulation was applied at 0.3 × 108, 0.6 × 108, and 0.9 × 108 conidia kg−1 of the crushed wheat grains; as well, it was mixed separately with 5% concentrations of each plant extract under the laboratory conditions of 30 ± 2 °C and 65 ± 5% RH. Mortality rate of the tested larvae was enumerated after regular intervals of times. Mortality of the larvae increased at the highest combined concentrations of the fungal conidial formulation and the plant extracts rather than their single treatments. The highest mortality rate of the larvae (71.32%) was recorded at the highest concentration binary mixture of (Racer TM +NE), whereas relatively the lowest mortality rate (15.54%) was enumerated in the combined treatments of (Racer TM +NE). Furthermore, the highest separate concentration of B. bassiana (0.9 × 108 conidia/ml) persistently resulted in more larval mortality (32.68%) of 3rd instar larvae of T. castaneum than the plant extracts (7.52, 9.89, and 14.61%), respectively. A noticeably greater rate of mycosis and sporulation was counted in the larvae of the insect in separate treatments of B. bassiana than in its combined applications with the plant extracts. The highest mycosis (85.13%) and sporulation (160.12 conidia/ml) was detected in the treatment, where the lowest concentration of B. bassiana (0.3 × 108 conidia/ml) was used, alone.ConclusionHence, it was concluded that integrated use of these two bio-pesticides plus the fungus can be helpful in the integrated pest management program of T. castaneum.
Highlights
BackgroundStored grains commodities are vulnerable to be attacked by numerous insect pests
Materials and methods Studies were carried out at the Grain Research, Training and Storage Management Cell, Department of Entomology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan.Collection and rearing of test insects Tribolium castaneum adults of mixed age were collected from different grain markets situated in the district of Faisalabad, Punjab province, Pakistan
Remarkable differences were noticed in the larval mortality of 3rd instar larvae of T. castaneum when exposed to a separate or joint treatments of the plant extracts and B. bassiana (Bb)
Summary
Stored grains commodities are vulnerable to be attacked by numerous insect pests. Larval and adult stages of T. castaneum feed on damaged grains by other stored grain insects (Sarwar 2015) It is a polyphagous insect pest and typically attacks the stored broken wheat grains, wheat flour, and other grinded cereals (Bosly and Kawanna 2012). Fumigation by phosphine is the main approach for the operative control of the insect pests (Chadda 2016). Application of plant-derived materials (i.e., plants powders, extracts, oils) as fumigants for the control of stored commodities insect pests and their products is potential substitute approach for the control of insect pests (Rehman et al 2018). The leaf extract of Azadirachtin indica has been operative for the stored commodities’ insect pests mainly for the environment-friendly control of T. castaneum (Islam and Talukder 2005). The present research worked on evaluating the efficacy of three plant extracts and B. bassiana against T. castaneum under laboratory conditions
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