ABSTRACT

Maize weevil is a serious pest of stored grains. Laboratory studies were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of eight plant essential oils viz. lemon grass (Cymbopogon flexousus), turmeric (Curcuma longa), basil (Ocimum basilicum), harmal (Peganum harmala), heeng (Ferula assafoetida), neem (Azadirachta indica), tumma (Citullus colocynthis) and mint (Mentha arrensis) against maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais at three different concentrations (5,10 and 15%) and at three different time intervals (2, 4 and 6 days) in the laboratory of the Stored Grain Management Cell, Department of Entomology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. The results revealed that the maize weevil mortality increased with increase in concentration and time intervial. Maximum mortality of the pest was observed in A. indica essential oil at 15% concentration after 6 days of application i.e. 90.52% followed by C. colocynthis oil (82.62%). Minimum mortality was observed in M. arvensis oil i.e. 44.44 percent at 5% concentration after 6 days. As far as adult emergence was concerned the minimum number of mean adult was emerged in A. indica i.e. 44.94% and maximum was in M. arvensis (90.78). A. indica also showed minimum number of infested grains i.e. 9.22%, mean percent infested grains 6.07% and 3.35% weight loss while M. arvensis showed maximum mean number of infested grains percent and weight loss for S. zeamais, i.e. 24.33%, 15.94% and 8.80%, respestively. Keywords: maize weevil, plant essential oil, stored maize, mortality, weight loss, adult emergence
Publication date: 01/08/2020

https://ijbpas.com/pdf/2020/August/MS_IJBPAS_2020_5317.pdf

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https://doi.org/10.31032/IJBPAS/2020/9.8.5317