Ecofriendly Management of Major Insect Pests of Stored Maize

Abstract

The laboratory experiments were conducted during 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 to study the efficacy of seed protectants namely fly ash, paddy husk and it’s ash, turmeric powder, silica gel, neem leaves and oil, eucalyptus leaves and oil, canola oil and boric acid against rice weevil Sitophilus oryzae (L.) and lesser grain borer Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) and khapra beetle Trogoderma granarium Everts on stored maize (genotype HQPM 1). The results revealed that neem oil was the most ecofriendly treatment against S. oryzae with 94.76% adult mortality, 12.54x population growth after 6 months and 0% grain damage (pooled data). In case of R. dominica, maximum mortality (91.90%) and 0% grain damage was observed in neem oil but minimum growth (12.44-) value was observed for canola oil. The neem oil was also found effective against T. granarium (92.83% mortality; 0% grain damage), and the least (60.04 larval growth was observed with canola oil. Neem oil showed maximum (80%, 80% and 86.67%) repellency against S. oryzae, R. dominica and T. granarium, respectively which was followed by eucalyptus oil. The neem oil showed 86% germination which was followed by eucalyptus oil (84%). The boric acid showed adverse effects on germination of maize seeds.