INFLUENCE OF FUNGAL EXTRACTS, BOTANICAL EXTRACTS AND SYNTHETIC INSECTICIDE ON LARVAL MORTALITY AND REPELLENCY OF ANGOUMOIS GRAIN MOTH, SITOTROGA CEREALELLA (LEPIDOPTERA: GELECHIIDAE)

A study was conducted to evaluate the repellent activity and growth inhabiting effects of botanical and fungal extracts and to compare the effect of oral toxicity with the contact applications against Sitotroga cerealella. It is concluded that Melia azedarach and Aspergillus flavipes both showed good performance in controlling the Sitotroga cerealella larvae. With the increase in storage duration larval mortality gradually increased while the maximum mortality test (oral toxicity) and repellency test both were recorded for M. azedarach and A. flavipes and revealed effective against the tested larvae. The biological activities of the fungal and botanical extracts revealed that the various compounds present in the extracts had repellent effect. Results revealed significant variation in larval mortality for botanical storage durations as well as their interactions. The chlorpyrifos performed highly toxic with the average larval mortality rate of 9.78, following A. flavipes (4.61), M. azedarach (4.08), Penicillium spp. (3.67) and Polygonum hydropiper (2.93) while the least toxicity was revealed by the control (0.03).