Preference of Red Flour Beetle(Tribolium Castaneum) in Infesting Roasted Bengal Gram and its By-products

Abstract

Experiments were conducted to study the preference of red flour beetle, T. castaneum, to roasted Bengal gram and its by-products. The preference of red flour beetle was significantly more in roasted Bengal gram brokens (59.06%) than roasted whole grains (25.40%) and flour (15.38%). In 15 days after storage, infestation of red flour beetle led to weight loss of 2.33, 2.33 and 2.47%; and in 30 days after storage 2.57, 4.67 and 8.47% in roasted Bengal gram, brokens and flour, respectively. Fried gram flour had significantly more number of larvae (197.50) when compared to broken (74.00), while roasted Bengal gram recorded lowest number of larvae.