Infestation of Tribolium castaneum Herbst (Tenebrionidae, Coleoptera) on dehusked split pulses in India

Dehusked split pulses are now emerging as the new host of Tribolium castaneum Herbst in lieu of wheat flour in eastern India. Present study details of developmental time of this insect on 7 commercially available dehusked split pulses such as green gram, chickpea, pigeon pea, pea, grass pea, lentil, blackgram and wheat flour. It was found that during the autumn season, the longest in lentil (32.06 ± 0.57), followed by grass pea (22.94 ± 0.38), pea (22.44 ± 0.56), pigeon pea (19 ± 0.42), green gram (18.06 ± 0.79), wheat flour (17.09 ± 0.57), chickpea (15.66 ± 0.81). The mean number of progeny produced per female highest in Wheat flour in autumn (11.75/female) and winter (5.75/female) and among the pulses it was highest in greengram i.e. 4.5/ female in autumn and 10.5/female in winter. It was lowest in pea (1.25/female) in autumn and in grass pea (1.25/female) in winter. A positive correlation has been found with protein content of the food commodities and total life span of the insect where as a negative correlation has been found with protein content of the pulses and amount of dust produced by the insect infestation in fresh grain in both the seasons. The extent of progeny development was relatively faster and after wheat flour. Although, the pest was able to cause damage and propagate in all types of pulses tested, green gram followed by chickpea was most efficiently utilised for multiplication.