International Journal of Plant & Soil Science

The study was conducted in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 7 treatments and 1 untreated control each replicated thrice in Laboratory conditions. The treatments are T1 (clove powder), T2 (black pepper powder), T3 (asafoetida latex powder), T4 (castor oil), T5 (cinnamon oil), T6 (citronella oil), T7 (Spinosad 45 SC) and T8 (untreated control). From the above treatments Spinosad gave 100% mortality at 3, 7 and 10 DAR of pulse beetle, 1.20% grain damage and 2.81% weight loss of seeds after 30, 60, 90 and 120 DAR of pulse beetle. Black pepper gave 87.77% mortality, 3.30% grain damage and 8.58% weight loss which resulted with little difference from Spinosad. Black pepper even gave 73.33% germination after 6 months of storage. Castor oil ranked next by recording 57.77% mortality, 7.48% grain damage and 13.91% weight loss. When compared with the result of biological insecticide the botanicals namely black pepper was found to be as effective as the biological insecticide. It also showed higher percentage of germination. Since majority of the pulses are damaged at storage by bruchids and managing them with the use of insecticides leads negative impact on the environment, an alternative strategy using botanicals which can be easily attained by farmers that are budget friendly with promising results and low health hazards was experimented. Present findings concluded that the locally available treatments gave good protection to the damage caused by bruchids on black gram seeds during storage. Effectiveness of the treatments in decreasing order is Spinosad > black pepper > castor oil > clove powder > cinnamon oil > citronella oil > asafoetida latex powder.