Biology of Ephestia cautella (Walker) on dehulled foxtail millet and efficacy of conventional methods for its control

The biology of the warehouse moth, Ephestia cautella (Walker) was studied on dehulled foxtail millet at Post-harvest Technology Centre, Bapatla. Oval-shaped, sculptured, pearly white coloured eggs were laid singly. The neonate larva was semi-translucent, yellowish white with a distinctly dark brown head and thoracic shield. Fully grown larva measured about 10 mm. Pupa is obtect, which measured 6.37 mm in length and 1.71 mm in width. Adult longevity was 6.46 days. The adult moth is small measuring 9.0 to 11.0 mm in length and 2-3 mm in width. The total life cycle of E. cautella varied from 24 to 40 days. Conventional methods namely; use of neem leaves, karanj leaves, bay leaves, sweet flag rhizomes, garlic, cloves, camphor, common salt, and Parad tablets were evaluated against warehouse moth based on the emergence of progeny adults. The insect could establish successfully in all the treatments. However, there was significant reduction over control in moth emergence in the treatments of Parad tablets, cloves, and camphor at single dose (91.57, 67.54, and 59.55%, respectively) and (95.30, 72.25, and 72.74%, respectively) at double dose.