Evaluation of botanical extracts for the management of greater wax moth, galleria mellonella linnaeus (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) under stored conditions

Abstract

In an experiment conducted to evaluate the efficacy of four botanical extracts (Solvent extraction) viz., Sweet flag (Acorus calamus), Turmeric (Curcuma longa), Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum), Medicinal Coleus (Coleus forskohlii) in comparison with three Essential oils (Steam distillation) viz., Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus), Peppermint (Mentha piperita) and Lemongrass (Cymbopogan citratus) against the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella, it was observed that Sweet basil, O. basilicum at 5% was found to be effective against G. mellonella with a maximum of 89.29% larval mortality followed by Sweet flag (A. calamus) with 65.71% mortality. Medicinal coleus, (C. forskohlii) with 56.66% mortality and Turmeric (C. longa) with 45.47% mortality in the descending order of efficacy. Among essential oils tried, Peppermint oil (M. piperita) has resulted in 80.24% larval mortality, followed by Eucalyptus oil (E. globulus) with 69.05% mortality and Lemongrass oil, C. citratus (50.48%). The botanical treatment with Sweet basil, O. basilicum (21.81%) resulted in minimum comb weight loss by G. mellonella followed by Sweet flag, A. calamus (29.04%). Among the essential oil, Peppermint oil, M. piperita (24.56%) afforded less comb weight loss, indicating the effectiveness of treatment in controlling the larval damage.