Abstract

Shrikant V*, Mohan SK Ramaraju and Ganesh H

Investigations were carried out to study the stored product insects associated with stored cocoa beans at private godowns located at Sennakallpalyam, Dharapuram in Tamil Nadu, India during 2010-2011. The tools used were normal sieve sample, UV light trap, pheromone trap and stack probe trap. The trap catches compared in all methods major insect got is T. castaneum hence the biological studies were carried out on the major insect attacking stored cocoa beans namely red flour beetle, T. castaneum. Insects cultured on cocoa bean host had high fecundity 60 percent, hatchability 93 percent, mean developmental period is about 240 DAS and growth index 4.18 DAS.