Science Letters

Eco-Friendly Approaches for the Management of Red Flour Beetle: Tribolium castaneum (Herbst)

Waqar Islam 1, 2*

1 College of Plant Protection, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China

2 College of Crop Sciences, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China

Abstract

Food security is primarily dependent on proper storage and protection of stored grain commodities all over the world. The stored grain commodities face the constant attack of pests. Among those, red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), is one of the leading causes regarding damage to commodities as the pest can survive in diverse climates globally. Preferable management of the particular pest in most of the countries is done via utilization of synthetic chemicals, but keeping in mind the devastating negative effects of these chemicals on human health and surrounding ecosystem, the need of time is to find eco-friendly approaches for this purpose. In this regard, phyto-extracts offer a safe and environment-friendly alternative. This review focuses on the success stories of botanical use against red flour beetle by summarizing the aspects from conventional to modern approaches. In context to it, different life stages of insect starting from egg laying to adult development have also been mentioned. The review focuses on the recent research conducted for the evaluation of phyto-derivatives against red flour beetle in the 21st century. The review sums up by including some limitations of usage of phyto-extracts and sheds lights by hoping that the future pesticides will be safer, economical and least toxic to human beings and the planet's ecosystem.