Gone with the weed: Population growth of Sitophilus oryzae and Rhyzopertha dominica in wheat and barley containing seeds of Silybum marianum

Abstract

In the present study we examined the effect of seeds of the weed Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn. (Asterales: Asteraceae) in different combinations with wheat or barley in the population growth of two major stored product insects, Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) (Coleoptera: Bostryhidae) and Sitophilus oryzae (L.) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). The evaluation took place on 7 different quantitative combinations of the weed, i.e. 0, 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100% of the total amount of the grain mass. All combinations were kept under constant conditions of 25 οC and 65% relative humidity (r.h.) for 65 days. After this interval, adult progeny production was counted, and classified as dead or alive. In general, progeny production was higher on wheat than on barley for R. dominica, but the reverse was recorded for S. oryzae. No progeny production was recorded for either species when S. marianum containment was 100%. Moreover, for both species, the decrease of the percentage of S. marianum caused an increase in progeny production, but this decrease was not linear. The study concludes that R. dominica and S. oryzae cannot develop on S. marianum seeds, but they can develop in mixtures of these seeds with grains. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd