Repellent effect of sirinol (garlic emulsion) against Lasioderma serricorne (Coleoptera: Anobiidae) and Tribolium castaneum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) by three laboratory methods

Abstract

To alleviate insect pest problems in storage, synthetic pesticides are recommended; but their use may create toxicity to non-target organisms, development of resistance and residues in treated products. Under such circumstances, the need for research to find a safe, convenient, durable and economically logical method is necessary. The application of repellents could be considered as a new control method in storage. In this study, percentage repellency (PR) of Sirinol (garlic emulsion) was assayed on adults of cigarette beetles, Lasioderma serricorne (F.) and red flour beetles, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) using three techniques, Petri-dish, Y- shape olfactometer tube and leaky glass. The insects were exposed to 0, 0.5, 1.5 and 10% concentration of Sirinol that is a botanical compound and PR of the adults was determined. In each of the three methods, the maximum PR of Sirinol was about 10% concentration, and the quantities were equal to 58.56, 42.58 and 26.29% for L. serricorne and 70.99, 55.47 and 38.72 for T. castaneum in Petri-dish, Y- shape olfactometer tube and leaky glass techniques, respectively. The interaction between concentration and time (concentration × time) was not significant for the adults of the two species. It was shown that T. castaneum was more susceptible to Sirinol than L. serricorne. Data analysis revealed that PRs of Sirinol were not significantly different between the time of 12 and 72 h.

Key word: Sirinol, repellent, percentage repellency, garlic.