Combined effects of contact insecticides and 50 °C temperature on Sitophilus oryzae (L.) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in wheat grain

Abstract

The effects of the insecticides deltamethrin, bifenthrin, thiamethoxam, spinosad and abamectin were tested in the laboratory in combination with extreme temperature of 50 °C to discover potential improvements of existing pest management programmes for Sitophilus oryzae (L.) control. Adults were released into wheat grain treated with three insecticide doses ranging 0.125–1.0 mg/kg and exposed to 50±1 °C temperature at the intervals of 0, 65, 75 and 85 min, and direct and combined effects were determined after 1, 2, 7 and 14 days of exposure/recovery at 25±1 °C and 60 ± 5% r. h., as well as impact on F1 progeny production/reduction PR (%) after 8 weeks. The results showed that the mortality of S. oryzae adults increased with exposure/recovery duration more than under the activity of each insecticide alone and its interaction with extreme temperature. After 14 days, all three rates of deltamethrin (0.125–0.5 mg/kg), the two higher rates of bifenthrin (0.25 and 0.5 mg/kg) and the highest rates of abamectin (0.5 mg/kg) and thiamethoxam (1.0 mg/kg) caused maximum adult mortality (100%) and PR (100%) after weevil exposure to 50 °C already after the interval of 65 min, while spinosad had the same effect after 75 and 85 min, which effectiveness was 1.25–20 times higher than the activities of the insecticides and 50 °C temperature alone, considering all trial variants. The lowest rate of bifenthrin (0.125 mg/kg) was found after 65 min activity in combination with exposure to 50 °C, and especially spinosad (0.25 mg/kg) after 65 and 75 min, to have stimulated progeny production 17, 33 and 236%, respectively, while deltametrin showed 100% effectiveness against S. oryzae in all combinations of wheat grain treatment at 50 °C temperature, including the dose 0.125 mg/kg.