Food Processing & Technology

In India, pulses are the most important source of protein but full yield potential of these are seldom realized due to various constraints including damage by pests in storage. Among 14 important insect pests of stored grains, the pulse beetle Callosobruchus chinensis Linn. (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) is one which causes considerable qualitative and quantitative loss to stored pulses. Botanical pesticides seem to be one of the best alternate to check the pest population. It was therefore aimed to screen certain plants to explore their ovipositional deterrence against the pulse beetle Callosobruchus chinensis (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) as a cheap safe and eco-friendly substitute. The culture of pulse beetle C. chinensis was raised on green gram Vigna radiata in incubators maintained at 28+20°C and 70% RH. The select plants were collected from Bikaner, Rajasthan, India (20° N and 73° 17” E, 28 m) and its vicinity. Different parts were separated, cleaned and different extracts using water and organic solvents of various dose concentrations were prepared. Specific number of adult insects (in pairs) were released in muslin cloth covered beakers containing weighed green gram grains and treated with different dose concentrations (w/v) of formulations. Each experimental set comprised of 10 replicas. Observations for egg laying were recorded after three days in treated/experimental along with normal and control sets and were subjected to statistical analysis. It was observed that some of the plant formulations resulted in none or very low egg lying by the pest insect, suggesting that these could be used as an alternate and eco-friendly substitute especially against the pulse beetle C. chinensis.