Evaluation of Insecticides for the Control of Grain Lice, Liposcelis sp.

The grain lice or psocids, Liposcelis sp. is a nuisance for the personnel working in grain storage premises and also damages the germ portion of grain. Experiment were conducted in the paddy storage godown to study the effect of insecticides such as malathion (0.5%), dichlorvos (0.5%), deltamethrin (0.001%) as surface spray and aluminium phosphide (9 g t⁻¹) as fumigant for the control of grain lice. The observations on population prior to and different time intervals after treatment showed that the fumigation with aluminium phosphide was found to be more effective in reducing the psocid population (80%). Deltamethrin also gave effective control up to 144 h after treatment (80%) but malathion was least effective against psocids.