DOCUMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF PREVAIILING INSECT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN MILLED RICE
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Date
2009-08-15
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University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore
Abstract
Rice is one of the most important staple food crop for more than half of the world’s
population. Milled rice is attacked by nearly 27 insect species and two mite pests during storage.
Since milled rice is immediately slated for consumption, no chemical should be used to control
insects. The present study attempts to understand insect pest complex of milled rice, effect of
different control methods to prevent their infestation and to develop a protocol for the
management of insects. The rice samples were collected from 15 districts of Southern Karnataka
from mills, wholesalers, retailers and households. All samples were screened for the presence of
insects and also for boric acid by Colorimetric Method. Rice samples thus collected were found to
be attacked by five insect species namely, Sitophilus oiyzae L., Tribolium castaneum (Herbst),
Rhyzopertha dominica (F), Oryzaephilus surinamensis L. and Corcyra cephalonica Stainton.
Results revealed that 46.91 per cent of collected samples contained boric acid. Among the four
sources, the highest number of samples from households, retail shops and wholesalers contained
boric acid. Among the different varieties collected, highest per cent of Sona Masoori samples
contained boric acid. Through experimentation it was ascertained that rice from general retailer
shops required minimum of 4-5 washings to remove boric acid before cooking, while the rice sold
by the shopping malls required 3 washings to remove the boric acid completely. Further, it was
also assessed that more number of washings of rice lead to loss of nutrients from the rice grains. A
study was conducted to asses the effectiveness of different control methods namely boric acid, pea
protein, Ayurvedic (Zandu) Parad tablet, neem leaves, tobacco leaves dry chilli fruit and camphor
for managing S. oiyzae and T. castaneum in milled rice. Observation on the number of dead
adults, population build-up and grain weight loss due to infestation of S. oiyzae indicated that the
treatment with boric acid, pea protein and Ayurvedic Parad recorded as the best treatments.
Similarly in T. castaneum, the treatment with boric acid and Ayurvedic Parad recorded as the best
treatments. In an experiment the effects of different pulse proteins from pea, field bean, cowpea,
chickpea green gram and horse gram at one per cent against S. oiyzae in milled rice was assessed.
Observations on number of dead adults, population build-up and grain weight loss indicated that
pea protein and green gram protein were recorded as best treatments. Through this research it was
known that Ayurvedic Parad tablet, proteins of pea and green gram can be used for control insects
in milled rice.
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