Effectiveness of an improved form of insecticide-based diatomaceous earth against four stored grain pests on different grain commodities.

The effectiveness of Grain-Guard, an improved form of diatomaceous earth (DE), with low risk to the environment, was evaluated against the storage pests Liposcelis paeta, Cryptolestes ferrugineus, Rhyzopertha dominica, and Tribolium castaneum on four grain commodities, wheat, rice, maize and sorghum. The overall mortality of stored grain pests increased with the rise of application rate and exposure intervals of diatomaceous earth and decreased over 120 days of post-treatment period. Our results revealed that mortality of adults 14 days post-disclosure was > 80% on wheat at the start of post-treatment than rice, maize, and sorghum, respectively.

Influence of entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae, alone and in combination with diatomaceous earth and thiamethoxam on mortality, progeny production, mycosis, and sporulation of the stored grain insect pests.

The stored grain insects cause great damage to grains under storage conditions. Synthetic insecticides and fumigants are considered as key measures to control these stored grain insect pests. However, the major issue with these chemicals is grain contamination with chemical residues and development of resistance by insect pests to these chemicals.