Abstract:
Tribolium castaneumis is a pest of stored rice and other grains.
Altered degree of insect infestation in stored food having different particle
sizes is reported but such information on local rice varieties and pulses is
unavailable. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the relationship between
the infestation by T. castaneum varies and the grain type and the
percentage of fragments during storage, in selected rice varieties and
other grains found in the local market. The experiment used the
Completely Randomized Design with four replicates. Five local rice
varieties Red Kekulu, Red Samba, Kuruluthuda, Suwandel and Red
Heeneti; and other grains cowpea, green gram and black gram were
used. From each grain type, samples having brokens as 0%, 10%, 20%,
40%, 60% and 100% were prepared. Twenty T. castaneum adults were
introduced into a 20 g replicate sample of each grain type, and removed
two weeks following the introduction. Every two weeks following the
removal of parent adults, the number of progeny adults emerged in each
replicate sample was counted and removed. The progeny adult
emergence varied with grain type, percentage of broken grain and the
duration following initial infestation. Therefore, minimization of grain
damage during milling and other handling processes is recommended to
ensure better protection of grains from insect infestation during storage.
