The cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne (F.) is a serious economic insect pest of many stored products, spices and dried fruits. This work was carried out in the Laboratory of Plant Protection Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Egypt, to study the effect of eight different botanical foods as insect diets (standard insect rearing diet, wheat germ, oat grains, cumin seeds, corn flakes, chamomile flowers, roselle flowers and fenugreek seeds) on some biological aspects of this insect, population growth after one and three months as well as percentage of weight loss. Also, the effect of the heavy insect infestation on certain chemical constituents of the tested foods as food moisture content, total carbohydrates, total proteins, ash, total fats and total fibers was determined and compared to control after three months of storage. The standard insect rearing diet and wheat germ were the best foods since the insect larval period was very short (14.45 and 15.36 days, respectively), while fenugreek was less preferred food as larval diet (30.55 days). Pupal period ranged from 7.18 to 11.81 days on wheat germ and corn flakes, respectively. The shortest complete developmental period was 30.67 days on wheat germ and the longest one was 53.21 days on fenugreek seeds. Values of the susceptibility index ranged from 3.03 to 8.08% for fenugreek seeds and wheat germ, respectively. The standard insect rearing diet and wheat germ were the best food kinds since they produced the highest mean progeny number after one and three months of storage (204.33, 151.67 and 3151.30, 4313.30 adults, respectively). Mean weight loss percentage ranged from 0.52 to 5.20% on corn flakes and oat grains after one month from insect infestation, respectively. However, it reached its maximum value (31.13%) on the standard insect rearing diet and minimum value on cumin seeds (1.23%) after three months. The highest relative weight loss per each adult insect was 23.75% on chamomile flowers and the lowest one valued 2.66% on corn flakes after one month of storage. After three months the value increased on corn flakes, standard insect rearing diet, roselle flowers and cumin seeds, while decreased on the other tested food kinds. A positive correlation was found between the heavy insect infestation on some foods and the chemical constituents as moisture content, total carbohydrate, total proteins, total fats, ash and total fibers. In contrast a negative one was recorded on the other foods. Positive correlation coefficients with all tested chemical constituents on sound and infested foods were detected by highly significant for total carbohydrates and total proteins as well as significant for total fats. The heavy insect infestation increased both the progeny number and the incurred weight loss and affected the chemical constituents of the different tested food kinds compared to control. All tested food kinds were infested by the cigarette beetle L. serricorne and no immune food was found free from the insect infestation with preferable s...

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Seventeen legume seed varieties belonging to ten types were analyzed for each of total proteins, trypsin inhibitors, vicilins and lectins to study the relationship between the presence of the storage seed proteins in legume seeds and resistance to infestation with the cowpea seeds beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) under no-choice bioassay at constant conditions of 29±1°C and 70 ± 5% RH. The tested types and varieties were cowpea (Fitriat, Forage and Kafr El-Sheikh), fababean (Aquadams, Giza 843 and Sakha 1), pea (Master B and Smooth) common bean (Bronco and Nepraska), lupin (Giza 1 and White lupin), chickpea (Giza 195), soyabean (Giza 111), lentil (Giza 9), guar (Guvar bean) and lablab (Egyptian kidney bean). To clarify the impact of the storage seed proteins in legume seed varieties and types on infestation with C. maculatus, larval period, pupal period, least and mean complete developmental periods, number of emerged adults per female, percentage of adults emergence and sex ratio (as percentage of males) were determined. Moreover, susceptibility index, infested seeds (%), mean number of holes per infested seed, seeds weight loss (%), weight of early emerged adult and number of dead individuals inside seeds per female were assessed as infestation parameters. The obtained results showed that, each of total proteins, trypsin inhibitors, vicilins and lectins of different tested legume seed varieties and types are negatively correlated with all aforesaid resistance parameters with the exception of those respecting larval and pupal durations, least and mean complete developmental periods and number of dead individuals inside seeds per female. As regards total proteins of varieties, larval period, least and mean complete developmental periods, susceptibility index and number of dead individuals inside seeds per female reached high significance degree at 0.01 level of probability, whereas pupal period obviously showed significant correlation coefficient at 0.05 level of probability. But, the other studied resistance parameters did not demonstrate significant correlations. Significancy test of correlation relationships respecting trypsin inhibitors clearly proved to be insignificant for all studied characters, except for those of larval stage period, least and mean developmental periods which cleared highly significant correlations and significant ones with susceptibility index, number of holes per infested seed and number of dead individuals inside seeds per female. All tested seed varieties of guar, lupin and common bean revealed completely linear inverse relationship between trypsin inhibitors and susceptibility to cowpea seeds beetle infestation indicating deterring effects for insect development. Also, vicilins content proved that simple correlation coefficient values regarding the abovementioned resistance parameters reached high significancy degree excepting those concerning larval stage period, percentage of infested seeds, seeds weight loss percentage and weight of emerged adult that showed significant corr...

The saw-toothed grain beetle, Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.) is an important pest of many stored product foods. The effect of insect infestation on four various of whole food kinds as semi-dry date, dry date fruits, white sesame and reddish yellow sesame seeds as well as four food kinds of crushed seeds (chickpea, corn, rice and groundnut) as compared with standard diet (wheat flour, crushed wheat and dry yeast powder at 5:5:1, respectively) was investigated in the laboratory of Plant Protection Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Egypt. Insect parameters on the tested food kinds as regards to resistance were duration of developmental stages, number of F 1 progeny, growth index and weight loss (%) after one month of storage. All tested parameters were significantly affected by food kinds except the duration of pupal stage in whole foods. The shortest mean insect complete developmental period was 19.85 days on standard diet, while the longest one was 29.18 days on whole reddish yellow sesame seeds and 35.05 days on crushed groundnut. Values of the growth index (GI) increased from 3.22 to 3.76 on whole reddish yellow sesame seeds and crushed chickpea, respectively compared to 4.64 on standard diet. The wet weight loss (%) ranged from 0.50 and 0.67% in whole sesame seeds (white and reddish yellow) and crushed groundnut, suscessively compared to11.17% in standard diet. The relative wet weight loss (%) in whole seeds reached its minimum (1.94%) in each of whole white and reddish yellow sesame seeds and reached its maximum (43.23%) in standard diet, while in crushed foods, the lowest value was 3.16% in crushed groundnut as compared with the standard diet which recorded the highest percent 52.76%. All tested foods either whole or crushed were infested with O. surinamensis and no completely immune food was found free from the insect infestation but the insect preferred crushed foods and some foods than another.