Phosphine resistance in cigarette beetle Lasioderma serricorne (F.) (Anobiidae: Coleoptera) in Major Turmeric Growing Areas

Abstract

Cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne (F.) is a serious pest of stored turmeric causes huge losses by boring extensively through dry turmeric rhizomes. Stored turmeric is commonly disinfected by fumigation with phosphine gas as it leaves almost negligible amount of residue. L. serricorne is known to be resistant to phosphine due to its heavy and indiscriminate uses. No detailed information is available on current status of phosphine resistance in L. serricorne in major turmeric growing areas. This study investigated resistance level in twelve populations of L. serricorne collected from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Samples collected were subjected to bioassay on the basis of the response of adults to discriminating concentration of 0.07mg L−1 for 24 hr exposure. The bioassay results showed that resistance was common in all the field collected populations of L. serricorne and the level of resistance ranged from 27.41 to 82.16%. The populations from Erode (82.16%), Salem (76.66%) in Tamil Nadu and Duggirala (80.23%) in Andhra Pradesh showed high level of resistance. The low level of phosphine resistance (27.41to 48.30%) was observed in populations from Tiruchengodu, Rasipuram, Athur, Namagiripettai in Tamil Nadu and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh. The correlation between the number of aluminium phosphide fumigations and the resistance showed a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.534, indicating that indiscriminate use of phosphine and improper fumigation might lead to development of phosphine resistance in L. serricorne in turmeric storage.