Bio-thermal seed treatment device– an innovative technology of heat treatment for the management of bruchids, Callosobruchus maculatus Fab on black gram Mounica D*, Natarajan N Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003, Tamil Nadu, India *Email forcorrespondence: mounicaagri47@gmail.com
Online published on 25 July, 2018. Abstract An investigation was carried out to study the effect of different heat treatments on management of bruchids, a stored product pest of black gram. Seed of 10 kg of black gram was artificially infested with bruchids, Callosobruchus maculatus Fab and the heat treatment was given with a novel biothermal device developed with technical guidance of the scientists of Department of Entomology and Department of Bio-energy, TNAU, Coimbatore. Of the various ranges of temperature from 55 to 65°C for 30 min tested, black gram seeds exposed to 65°C for 30 min were free from bruchid infestation with lesser number of eggs (3 eggs/week/seed) as compared to 55 and 60°C with higher number of 4.9 and 3.6 eggs/week/seed respectively besides possessing desirable level of germination (91 per cent) without any depletion of protein content. Top Keywords Bruchids, device, heat treatment, adult emergence, mortality, germination. Top |