Management of Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) and Rhyzopertha dominica (Fabricius) by using Microwave Oven
Muhammad Nauman, Unsar Naeem-Ullah*, Mehreen Hanif, Hafsah Ghaffar, Muhammad Shahid and Syed Haroon Masood Bokhari
ABSTRACT
Wheat, Triticum aestivum L., is one of most important staple food crop of Pakistan. Its grains have rich sources of proteins, fibers and minerals. This cereal crop has maximum proportion in daily basic diet of human in Pakistan. Disinfestation of wheat grains by using microwaves can be safe option than chemical control. Therefore, in this study a digital microwave oven of 50 Hz is used to determine the mortality of Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) and Rhyzopertha dominica (Fabricius) adults. Grain samples of 20 g in each petri dish were infested with both adults and exposed to microwaves for 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 sec. For germination determination 25 seeds from each treatment were selected. Results indicates that increase in exposure time also increase the mortality but it reduces the germination capability of the grains. 20 sec exposure time of microwave oven is enough to cause maximum mortality without disturbing the germination quality of the grains.
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