Effectiveness of vegetable powders on adults of Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky Coleoptera: Curculionidae

Abstract

Maize is the most important crop in Mexico due to its varied  uses, such as food for human and animal consumption,  extraction of oils and other derivatives, among others.  This crop, like many others, presents phytosanitary  problems of diseases and pests, among which is the corn  weevil (Sitophilus zeamais), considered as one of the most  important stored grain pests. Chemical insecticides have  been used for its control, which has caused problems of  resistance, contamination of the environment and residues  in stored foods. An alternative to this problem is the use  of biorrational products derived from plants, which are  generally biodegradable, do not produce ecosystem  disequilibrium nor effects to health. In this investigation,  nine plant powders were evaluated on the mortality of S.  zeamais adults, in concentration of 1, 2 and 3 g of each of  them for each 0.5 k of corn grains. A completely randomized  design with 10 treatments and three replicates was used. The  highest mortality was obtained with the treatment based on  three grams for all treatments, with black pepper and ruda  having the highest mortality rates with 68.84 and 60.42%,  respectively, while the other treatments showed mortalities  less than 50%.