Some aspects of the biology and control using botanicals of the rice moth, Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton), on some pulses

The life cycle of Corcyra cephalonica was studied under ambient laboratory conditions (temperature range 27.5-30 degrees C and 60-73% r.h.) on groundnut, bambara groundnut and cowpea. The mean developmental period ranged from 33.2 +/- 0.2 to 45.3 +/- 1.8 days on whole, broken and powdered forms of the food media. Egg hatchability was found to be 83%, while adult longevity ranged from 1.5 +/- 0.5 to 11.9 +/- 1.3 days for males and 1.5 +/- 0.5 to 16.5 +/- 1.2 days for females. Sex ratio (male:female) of emerged adults ranged from 1:1 to 1:2.1. Mean fecundities ranged from 128 +/- 5 to 157 +/- 8 on the food media. In experiments to assess the insecticidal potential of three plant materials against C. cephalonica, Eichhornia crassipes powder showed a higher efficacy than both Citrus sinensis peel powder and the leaf powder of Chromolaena odorata at dosages of 0.5-2.0 g per 40 g of legume seed. At the higher dosage of 2.5 g, C. sinensis was more effective and reduced the population of C. cephalonica by half when compared to the population in control jars over a period of 1.5 months. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.