Vol. 12, Issue 9 (2023)

Author(s):
Vegireddy Kranthi Kumar and Usha Yadav

Abstract:
The laboratory experiments were conducted to study the host preference of Rice weevil Sitophilus oryzae (L.) on different cereal grains (Rice, pearl millet, Barley and Soyabean) and also to study the efficacy of some indigenous plant products such as Neem leaf powder, tulsi leaves powder, tobacco leaf powder, pepper nigrum powder, ginger rhizome powder, garlic powder, cypermethrin against rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (L.) on stored Rice by undertaking various parameters viz., percent adult mortality, percent weight loss after three months of storage. The research was carried out at Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj, U.P. in department of Entomology 2022-2023. This experiment was conducted under Complete Randomized block Design (CRD). After 90 days of storage for observation of host preference, highest weight loss was observed in pearl millet followed by barley and rice and least weight loss was counted in soyabean. Among the various plant-based products assessed for their effectiveness against the rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae) in stored rice grains, neem leaf powder exhibited remarkable results. It demonstrated a substantial adult mortality reduction of 72.22% and minimized seed weight loss to a significant degree. Following neem leaf powder, the hierarchy of efficacy was observed as tobacco leaf powder, black pepper (Piper nigrum) powder, tulsi (holy basil) powder, ginger powder, and garlic powder. Whereas, the minimum efficacy was recorded in garlic powder and ginger rhizome powder. The current investigation has effectively demonstrated that these naturally existing native plant products hold the potential to be employed in the control of storage insect pests in rice.