Eco-friendly tools for controlling of the rice weevil Sitophilus oryzea (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzea L.) has been reported as one of the primary post-harvest severe pests of cereal grains and their products. The pest prefers soft varieties of wheat grains. The current investigation aimed to assay eco-friendly tools for control the rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzea). The insecticidal activities of the botanicals and certain mineral fine dusts were measured based on their effect on adult mortality of the rice weevil S. oryzea. Certain selected parts of different fresh plants were used for the present investigation i.e. camphor, marjoram, conocarpus, black pepper, orange peel, Brazilian pepper, coal ash and sulfur. All the tested plant materials showed significant insecticidal activity against the rice weevils, but black pepper was the efficient one showing the least LC50 and LT50 values estimated by 0.003 g / 50g grain in 1.12 day. Among evaluated admixtures, binary combinations of black pepper + coal ash, black pepper + sulfur, and black pepper + orange peel, were the most potent ones. Our study suggests that botanicals and mineral fine dusts in binary mixtures may enhance the potency of constituent components for effective control of the rice weevils (S. oryzea). the datasuggests future trust for use of plant products and mineral fine dusts as a bio control for integrated controlling rice weevil S. oryzae control.