“Biofumigation: Safeway to Manage Rice Weevil in Storage for Ensuring Food Safety and Biosecurity”

Attempts have been made in recent years to reduce the use of synthetic pesticides and seek alternative and innovative methods for pest control in storage condition. Among different control measures, fumigation is still one of the most effective methods for the prevention of stored product losses from insect pests. The present investigation was done to study the role of bio fumigants in storage condition.In the present study, five important bio fumigant plants namely Lantana camara, Eucalyptus globulus, Ailanthus excelsa, Acorus calamus and Brassica juncea were selected ,the essential oil of five bio-fumigant plants was obtained by Supercritical fluid extraction method and analysed by GC-MS. Fumigant toxicity of SFE extract was tested against rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae) which is infesting sorghum seeds. SFE extract of Lantana camara at 0.5 per cent provided better control over other concentrations with filter paper bioassay method. Cent per cent mortality was noticed in adult of rice weevil after three days of treatment. Extracts of A. excelsa and E. globulus at 1.5 per cent accounted with 85.09 and 78.17 per cent mortality, respectively.