ibclogo XVI International Botanical Congess


Abstract Number: 6176
Poster No. = 2574


CYMBOPOGON FLEXUOSUS: A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF GRAIN PROTECTANTS.


Amritesh C. Shukla, S.K. Shahi and Anupam Dikshit, Biological Product Laboratory, Dept. of Botany, Univ. of Allahabad, Allahabad-211 002, India


With a view to develop harmless and effective herbal fumigant to control storage pests of food commodities, a detailed in vitro pesticidal screening of some aromatic plants against the dominant storage fungal pests viz., Aspergillus flavus, Penicillium italicum and Alternaria alternata as well as storage insect-pests viz., Rhizopertha dominica, Trogoderma granarium, Sitophilus oryzae, Corcyra cephalonica, Ephestia cautella, have been performed and it was observed that the oil of Cymbopogon flexuosus ws the strongest toxicant. The oil at 5% concentration killed the tested fungal pests within 7-8 hours but against insect pests it requires only 45-60 minutes, when used as a contact toxicant. However, as a fumigant, killing time were found to be 7 hours against R. dominica and S. oryzae, 6 hours against T. granarium and 8 hours against the C. cephalonica and E. cautella respectively. Besides, a broad pesticidal spectrum the oil tolerated heavy doses of inoculum. The toxicity of the oil was found to be thermostable and persisted up to 36 months. The encouraging in vitro study forced us to test in in vivo too, so that it can be used in a suitable form as a grain protectant. Therefore, after testing their non-phytotoxicity on wheat and groundnut, the maximum phytotolerable concentration as well as the minimum effective dose of the fumigant formulation was determined as 6 gm at 40% concentration up to the volume of per cubic meter. The fumigated commodities withstood organoleptic test as well as their pharmacological parameters did not show any adverse effects. Besides, formulated fumigant was found to be superior over tested synthetics. As such, after successful multilocatonal trial, the oil of C. flexuosus can be commercialized as a potential source of grain protectants in the form of Bioflexa.


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