Evaluation of Herbal Tablets against Red Flour Beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) in Brown Rice

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of some herbal tablets (1 g each) against red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum in brown rice. Herbal tablets with different combinations i.e., Acorus, Clove, Acorus + Clove, Acorus + Clove oil, Clove + Clove oil, Acorus + Clove + Clove oil; were prepared and evaluated along with Parad tablets and compared with untreated control. Observations on progeny buildup i.e., number of adults emerged at 40, 80 and 120 days after release of insects were taken and total number was worked out. Finally, the % weight loss was also calculated and the data obtained were statistically analyzed for comparison. The number of adult insects emerged during 120 days of storage from Parad tablet treatment was very negligible and recorded only 7.33 adults, while the acorus + clove powder treatment recorded 397.0 adults and the untreated control recorded 552.0 adults. Consequently, there was no weight loss of grain in Parad tablet treatment while in the other treatments the % weight loss varied between 3.19 in untreated and 3.61 in the treatment of acorus tablet. At the doses tested the herbal tablets could not suppress the progeny buildup of red flour beetle.