An in-depth study on Sitophilus zeamais Motsch (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) pests on corn plants

Abstract

In tropical climates, Sitophilus zeamais Motsch is the main pest of maize, often found when the plants are still in the field or storage warehouses. Damage to the products or stored materials has a significant effect on the economic value because 1) the materials are ready for consumption and 2) the materials have cost a lot of money from the seeding, tillage, planting, maintenance, to the harvesting stage. Thus, slight damage to the stored materials due to the pests can cause significant losses compared to attacks by other plant-disturbing organisms. Moreover, attacks from these insects will reduce the quality and quantity of materials, such as changes in color, taste, and unpleasant odor, and even cause contamination of diseases carried by these organisms such as aflatoxins and a decrease in nutritional quality, seed weight, and percentage of germination, which in turn will reduce the market value. In many literatures, it is stated that the quantity of S. zeamais Motsch attacks ranges from 26 to 29% and even reaches above 30%. In South Sulawesi, the damage has reached 85%, which can reduce the quantity of materials by up to 17%. If the moisture content of the stored material is high enough, between 18 - 20%, the attack rate of these pests will also be higher. This condition can cause damage between 30 - 40% with a weight loss of 12.65 - 21.54%. This paper discusses a closer introduction to the insect pest S zeamais Motsch, which includes the role of this pest in damaging agricultural products and its impacts and the biological, morphological, and ecological attributes of insects. The authors hope that this information can be useful in information technology about insects.