Efficiency of food bait attractants and volatile compounds for monitoring of pests in stored paddy

Food baits are one of the ways for monitoring and mass trapping of stored product insects. Based on this principle wheat flour, sorghum flour, pearl millet flour, rice flour, cracked corn, crushed groundnut, rice bran + rice flour as attractive materials. Observations were taken on 25 days after placement of bait traps. Behavioural response of insects to wheat flour, cracked sorghum and pearl millet flour were more attractive.The effective baits were also test verified through four-arm olfactometer and found the highest orientation in the arm containing wheat flour. The major attractive volatile compounds present in the baits were analysed using GCMS/MS. The attractive volatile compounds such as 1-butanol, 3-octen-1-ol, pentanal, nonane and undecane were present in wheat. Butyric acid, 3-hexanal and 7-octen-4-one present in sorghum. Undecane 7-octen-4-one, 1-octanal, hexanal, butanal, nonanal present in pearl millet. The attractant compound 3-hexanal was present in groundnut and rice bran. Butanal and 7-octen-4-one were present in corn and rice bran respectively, attracted less insects. Volatile compounds such as pentadecanoic acid, n-Hexadecanoic acid, cis-Vaccenic acid and propionic acid acted as repellents. cis-vaccenic acid present in rice bran, effected low attraction. Therefore, the effective bait of wheat flour may be exploited for monitoring and trapping of insects in paddy storage godowns.