Susceptibility of wheat, Triticum vulgare (Linn.) genotypes to the lesser grain bore, Rhizopertha dominica Fabricius (Coleoptera, Bostrichidae) larvae

Abstract

The lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica Fabricius (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae) is a primary pest of stored wheat. Many authors studied its development on this cereal like (e.g. wheat, rice, sorghum, oats, pearl, millet, malt, barley chickpeas, peanuts and beans etc. The aim of performed laboratory experiments was to assess the feeding preferences for the different varieties of wheat viz; HI 7747, HD 1982, K 65, Kalyan Sona, TL 174 and UPT 72294 and to evaluate their susceptibility/resistance to progeny production of R. dominica particularly larvae. The experiments were conducted at 28°C and 60 ± 5% of relative humidity. The mean survival rate of R. dominica larval and dockage in various wheat were determined. The influence of the wheat genotypes on the larval development of R. dominica was significant.The highest number of Rhizopertha dominica larvae 23.00 were present in UPT 72294 which is observed the most preferred variety. This variety differs significantly from the others. The next variety in order to preference for food is TL 174 having 10 larvae followed by H.D. 1982 having 5.66 larvae, which do not differ significantly to each other but differ significantly from the rest of the varieties. The least preferred varieties are HI 7747 and K65 having only 1.33 larvae and these do not differ from Kalyan Sona and HD 1982.