Diatomaceous earth effects on weevils with different susceptibility standard to phosphine

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the insecticide activity of diatomaceous earth (DE), at different temperatures, on two populations of Tribolium castaneum and Rhyzopertha dominica previously diagnosed as resistant and susceptible to phosphine. The efficiency of DE in the control of the insects was evaluated at temperatures of 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 ± 2 °C. The experiments were accomplished in Petri dishes containing 35 g of whole-wheat grain treated with DE in the dose of 1.0 kg t-1. The control was constituted by untreated wheat grain. Each Petri dish was infested with 30 adult insects. Insect mortality was registered seven days after the beginning of the bioassays. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications. The populations of T. castaneum and R. dominica, respectively, resistant and susceptible to phosphine have similar susceptibility patterns. The mortality of two populations of T. castaneum increased with increasing temperature. For R. dominica, the mortality did not change with the temperature.