Governance of Insecticidal Effect by Attapulgite Clay in the Callosobruchus chinensis, Pulse Beetle

Abstract

In recent decades, agricultural pests have caused 30-60% losses by Bruchids, which are the most primary, destructive, cosmopolitan, and polyphagous pests of post-harvest legume commodities in godowns, warehouses, farmers’ traditional bulk seeds storage units and also in the field. It is multiplying very rapidly and causes tremendous quality deterioration and deterioration of pulses stored in the semi-arid areas.  The current study aimed to replace synthetic insecticides with acetone botanical powder extracts and attapulgite clay dust against Callosobruchus chinensis (L.) on stored pigeon peas. The powders were extracted with solvent acetone and concentrated to two percent, and used for insect bioassays in the Entomology, ICRISAT. The data was assessed at 24 hours with 48 and 72 hours after treatment application. The results revealed that attapulgite clay dust significantly increased adult mortality (86.67 %), followed by sweet flag (76.67 %), zero mortality in the control. The lowest adult emergence was recorded on attapulgite clay (17.32 %), followed by sweet flag (22.57 %), as compared to the controls (33.14 %). This study demonstrated that the plant powders and attapulgite clay dust are safe, eco-friendly, and effective alternatives to the hazardous chemical insecticides.