Effect of modified atmosphere on cigarette beetle Lasioderma serricorne (F.) in stored turmeric

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the Post Harvest Technology Centre, Bapatla to study the effect of modified atmosphere on the mortality and development of cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne in stored turmeric. Packing material viz., polypropylene bags (with 20, 40, 60 and 80% CO2), Super bag, Magik bag, jute bag and aluminium pouches were evaluated at different exposure periods. Among the CO2 treatments, maximum mortality (76.67%), least adult emergence (3.0) and the least weight loss (1.22%) was observed at 80% CO2 concentration in polypropylene bags at 160 days of storage. Super bag and Magik bags were also found effective as the number of adults emerged and weight loss were minimum because of the hermetic conditions developed within, due to their impermeable nature to the external gases. The results indicated that apart from the concentration of CO2, permeability of packaging material is also more important to be considered to maintain the modified atmosphere at the desired level and exposure time for effective pest management.