ISSN:
1570-7458
Keywords:
Mechanical control
;
stored products
;
host colonization
;
Phaseolus vulgaris
;
behavioral disruption
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
Abstract Recognizing that it takes Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say)(Coleoptera: Bruchidae) larvae over 24 h to bore into a dry red kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and that boring can occur only at particular sites where a bean abuts some other surface, we postulated that this pest might be controlled by periodic tumbling of beans so as to place initiated holes out of register with requisite touching surfaces. Larvae repeatedly forced to initiate holes might die of exhaustion, if not smashed by tumbling beans. Indeed, brief daily tumbling of beans held in half-filled jars, buckets, and gunny sacks reduced A. obtectus populations by 97% relative to stationary controls. We recommend that small lots of beans can be protected indefinitely from the bean weevil when stored in 〈75% filled cylinders rolled ca 1 circumference every morning and evening. This control method should be immediately useful, particularly among subsistence families, since the only external input is knowledge. Also, this control principle might be broadly applicable to other bean and grain pests having strict spatial and temporal requirements for seed penetration.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00177031
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