Abstract:

The present study was carried out to evaluate the efficacy of some botanicals, inert materials and edible oils against Adzuki bean beetle, Callosobruchus chinensis L. in stored chickpea. Four botanicals viz., Milletia ferruginea (Hochst) Backer (seed powder), Azadrachta indica A. Juss. (seed powder), Datura stramonium L. (seed and leaf powder), Chenopodium ambrosioides L. ( leaf powder) , three edible seed oils viz., Brassica juncea L. , Linum usitatissimum L., Guizotia abyssinica L. and two inert materials such as wood ash and sand were used for the control against Adzuki bean beetle on stored chickpea. Malathion 5% dust and an untreated control check were included for comparison. The botanicals, inert materials and edible seed oils were caused high adult mortality, reduced egg laid, reduced F1 progeny emergence, low seed damage and low seed weight loss without affecting seed germination in stored chickpea grains .Seed powder of A .indica at the rate of 20 g kg-1 and the leaf powder of C. ambrosioides at the rate of 40 g kg-1 caused high adult mortality next to Malathion 5 % dust at the rate of 0.5g kg-1, while the other botanicals, inert materials and the oils showed better performance than the untreated check. B. juncea, L. usitatissimum and G. abyssinica seed oils applied at the rate of 5.0 ml k g-1 resulted in high reduction in progeny emergence. Likewise, sand and wood ash at all the levels tested, gave effective inhibition in F1 progeny production. The biology of C. chinensis was also studied on chickpea and the results showed that 6 days of oviposition period, 49.5 percent of average number of eggs laid, 91.5 percent of eggs hatched, 79.5 percent of average number of adult emergence, 25.3 days of developmental period, 9.6 and 7.5 days of adult longevity for male and female beetles respectively. These results indicated that botanicals, inert materials and edible seed oils can effectively control Adzuki bean beetle, C. chinensis in stored chickpea.