Insect Pests of Fruit, Plantation, Medicinal & Aromatic Crops (2+1)

Control methods

• The control methods of stored produce pests can be categorized into preventive and curative measures.
A. Preventive measures

• Brush the cracks, crevices and corners to remove all debris in the godown.
• Clean and maintain the threshing floor / yard free from insect infection and away from the vicinity of villages.
• Clean the machines like harvester and thresher before their use.
• Made the trucks, trolleys or bullock carts free from infestation.
• Clean the godowns/storage structures before storing the newly harvested crop to eliminate various bio stages of pest hiding.
• Provide a metal sheet upto a height of 25 cm at the bottom of the wood in doors to arrest the entry of rats.
• Fix up wire meshes to windows, ventilators, gutters, drains etc. to prevent entry of rats, birds and squirrels.
• Remove and destroy dirt, rubbish, sweepings and webbings etc. from the stores.
• Close all the rat burrows found in godown with a mixture of broken glass pieces and mud and plastered with mud / cement.
• Plaster the cracks, crevices, holes found on walls, and floors with mud or cement and white wash the stores before storing of grains.
• Provide dunnage leaving gangway or alleyway of 0.75 to 1 m all around to maintain good storage condition.
• Store the food grains in rat and moisture proof storage structures.
• Disinfest the storage structures receptacles by spraying malathion 50 EC @ 3 lit 100 m before their use.
B. Curative measures
i. Ecological methods

• Manipulate the ecological factors like temperature, moisture content, and oxygen through design and construction of storage structures/godown and storage to create ecological conditions unfavorable for attack by insects.
• Temperature above 42oC and below 15oC retards reproduction and development of insect while prolonged temperature above 45oC and below 10oC may kill the insects.
• Dry the produce to have moisture content below 10% to prevent the buildup of pests.
• Kill the pests bio stages horboured in the storage bags, bins etc. by drying in the sun light.
• Store the grains at around 10% moisture content to escape from the insects attack.
• Manipulate and reduce oxygen level by 1% to increase the CO2 level automatically, which will be lethal to all the stages of insects.
ii. Physical methods

• Provide a super heating system by infrared heaters in the floor mills and food processing plant to obtain effective control of pests since mostly the stored produce insects' die at 55-60oC in 10-20 minutes.
• Modify the storage atmosphere to generate low oxygen (2.4% and to develop high carbon dioxide (9.0 - 9.5) by adding CO2 to controls the insects.
Seed purpose

• Mix 1 kg of activated kaolin (or) lindane 1.3 D (or) Malathion 5 D for every 100 kg of seed and store / pack in gunny or polythene lined bags.
Grain purpose

• Mix 1 kg activated kaolin for every 100 kg of grain and store. To protect the pulse grains, mix activated kaolin at the above dosage or any one of the edible oils at 1 kg for every 100 kg of grin or mix 1 kg of neem seed kernel for every 100 kg of cereal or pulse and store.
• Do not mix synthetic insecticides with grains meant for consumption.
iii. Cultural methods

• Split and store pulses to escape from the attack by pulse beetle since it prefers to attack whole pulses and not split ones.
• Store the food grains in airtight sealed structures to prevent the infestation by insects.
iv. Mechanical methods

• Sieve and remove all broken grains to eliminate the condition which favour storage pests.
• Stitch all torn out bags before filling the grains.
v. Chemical methods

• Treat the walls, dunnage materials and ceilings of empty godown with Malathion 50 EC 10 ml / 1 (or) DDVP 76 WSC 7 ml / 1 at 31 spray solution / 10 sq.m.
• Treat the alleways and gangways with Malathion 50 EC 10 ml / 1 or DDVP 76 WSC 7 ml / 1 (1 litre of spray fluid / 270 M3).
• Spray Malathion 50 EC 10 ml / 1 @ 3 1 of spray fluid / 100 M2 over the bags.
• Do not spray the insecticides directly on food grains.
• Use knock down chemicals like lindane smoke generator or fumigant strips pyrethrum spray to kill the flying insects and insects on surfaces, cracks and crevices.
• Use seed protectants like pyrethrum dust, carbaryl dust to mix with grains meant for seed purpose only.
• Decide the need for shed fumigation based on the intensity of infestation.
• Check the black polythene sheets or rubberized aluminum covers for holes and get them ready for fumigation.
• Use EDB ampoules (available in different sizes of 3 ml, 6 ml, 10 ml, 15 ml and 30 ml) at 3 ml / quintal. At for wheat the pulses and 5 ml / quintal for rice and paddy (Do not recommend EDB for fumigation of flour oil seeds and moist grains).
• Use EDCT (available in tin containers of 500 ml, 1 liter and 5 litres) at 30-40 litres / 100 cubic meter in large-scale storage and 55 ml/quintal in small-scale storage.
• Use fumigants like Ethylene dibromide (EDB), Ethylene dichloride carbon tetra chloride (EDCT), Aluminium phosphide (ALP) to control stored produce pests effectively.
• Apply Aluminium phosphide (available in 0.6 g and 3 gram tablets) @ 2 tablets (3 gram each) per tonne of food grains lot with help of an applicator.
• Choose the fumigant and work out the requirement based on the following guidelines.
• 3 tablets of aluminum phosphide 3 g each per tonne of grain (For cover fumigation)
• 21 tablets of aluminium phosphide 3 g each for 28 cubic meters (For shed fumigation)
• Period of fumigation is 5 days.
• Mixclay or red earth with water and make it into a paste form and keep it ready for plastering all round the fumigation cover or keep ready sand snakes (For cover fumigation).
• Place the required number of aluminium phosphide tablets in between the bags in different layer.
• Cover the bags immediately with fumigation cover.
• Plaster the edges of cover all round with wet red earth or clay plaster or weigh down with sand sankes to make leak proof.
• Keep the bags for a period of 5 - 7 days under fumigation based on fumigant chosen.
• Remove the mud plaster after specified fumigation periods and lift cover in the corner to allow the residual gas to escape.
• Lift the cover after few hours to allow aeration.