Insecticidal activity of sweet flag Acorus calamus against Lasioderma serricorne (F.) and Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Stephens) Abhijith N.1,*, Mohan S., Nelson S. Jeyarajan Department of Agricultural Entomology, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003 1Department of Entomology, Sri Venkateswara Agricultural College, Tirupati, 517502 *Corresponding author Email: abhijithbhatmarate@gmail.com
Online published on 30 April, 2019. Abstract Bioassay studies were conducted on two storage insect pests viz., cigarette beetle Lasioderma serricorne (L.) and rusty grain beetle Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Stephens) exposing them to three package materials treated with sweet flag Acorus calamus 6 EC. After 36 hr after treatment (HAT), in L. serricorne, 20.00, 13.33 and 23.3% mortality was observed, while with C. ferrugineus it increased to 80.00, 73.33 and 80.00% with bags made of polypropylene, jute and in muslin cloth material, respectively. After 72 and 48 HAT 100% mortality of L. serricorne and C. ferrugineus was observed with all the three. These results revealed the potential of A. calamus 6 EC as a biopesticide to avoid the cross infestation of storage pests by surface treatment. Top Keywords Lasioderma serricorne, Cryptolestes ferrugineu, Acorus calamus 6 EC, malathion, package material, polypropylene, jute, muslin cloth, cross infestation. Top |