Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

BIO-EFFICACY OF SOME VEGETABLE OILS AS GRAIN PROTECTANT AGAINST SITOTROGA CEREALELLA (OLIVE.) ON MAIZE GRAINS

R.K. Verma, K. Kumari, T. Saha and S.N. Singh

Abstract

Considerable losses occur to maize during storage. To reduce the losses and protect from pesticide residue, some of the vegetable oils @ 8ml/Kg on maize grains were tested as grain protectant against Sitotroga cerealella (Olive.) under laboratory condition during 2014-15. The pooled data of three observations revealed that neem oil was found to be the most effective in reducing the number of moths (2.02) followed by mahua oil (2.94) whereas, mahua oil supported least number of larvae 3.17 per fifty grams which was in parity with neem oil (4.39). The minimum percentage of damaged grains was recorded with neem oil (16.18%) followed by mahua oil (20.97%). Likewise the percent weight loss was significantly lower in the treatment neem oil (7.03) followed by the treatment mahua oil (8.76).