Desiccant Beads: A Novel Tool for Managing Pulse Beetle in Stored Chickpea

Chickpea is the most dominant pulse having a major share under area shown 65 per cent and production 72 per cent followed by lentil and field pea. Pulse beetle, Callosobruchus chinensis L. is a primary pest of stored chickpea which causes 50-60 per cent loss in seed weight and 45.5-66.3 per cent loss in protein content of the seeds (Rustamani et al., 1985) and injudicious and indiscriminate use of hazardous synthetic chemicals for preventing storage losses in chickpea may lead to human and animal health issues due to residual hazards. Therefore, the biorational management of the pulse beetle in stored chickpea has been undertaken keeping biology in mind will prevent the loss as well as protect human health hazard.The experiments on non-chemical biorational approaches like effect of desiccant beadswhich control the pulse beetle efficiently but have lesser toxicity hazards to non-target organisms and the environment was studied in the Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, OUAT, BBSR, Odisha during 2018-2021.The results showed that desiccant beads viz., zeolite and sodium aluminium silicate impregnated with chickpea seeds in the ratio of 1:1 proved effective in suppression of the pulse beetle in chickpeaduring six months of storage.