Eco-friendly seed protectants for mitigating Bruchid infestation and maintaining seed longevity in green gram

Abstract

Green gram or Mung bean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] has major storage losses due to the infestation of pulse beetle (Callosobruchus chinensis), which causes deterioration of the seed quality. The effectiveness of entomopathogenic fungi (Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae) alone and in mixture with Diatomaceous earth, as eco-friendly seed protectant was studied during nine months of storage. Seeds of green gram variety DGGV-2 were used for the treatments and compared with spinosad 45% SC @ 2 mL/kg of seed and an untreated control. Periodic observations on insect infestation, egg laying potential, adult mortality, thousand seed weight, seed germination and vigour index of seeds were taken. Results revealed that the treatments significantly reduced the bruchid infestation when compared with the control. Spinosad provided maximum protection against storage infestation of seeds. Among the entomopathogenic formulations, M. anisopliae @ 20 g/kg + Diatomaceous earth @ 5g/kg and B. bassiana @ 20g/kg + Diatomaceous earth @ 5g/kg significantly maintained high seed quality. The findings of the present study indicated that entomopathogenic fungi based formulations incorporating an inert dust can be explored as efficient green and eco-friendly seed storage protectants for green gram.