2007-01-08T03:05:00.000-08:00

COLD TREATMENT

AN EASY METHOD

TO CONTROL INSECT PESTS IN GRAINS

INVENTION BY

DR. RUTA INAMDAR

T.V. Channel "Zee 24 Taas" telecasted my feature on "Cold Treatment" on Tuesday, 11 March 08, at 2 p.m. in program 'Stri'

"ZEE T V Marathi" Telecasted

Live Interview of Dr. Ruta

on Cold Treatment on Nov 23rd 2006

Dear Friends,

I have done very important invention regarding insect pests, which will give great relief to all, who deal with grains, pulses, dals etc. I would like to share my invention with you.

Common insect pests in grains

We always face problem in protecting our food grains from insect pests.

Pests, which trouble us, are

Beetles of various species commonly called as Porkide or Pore; Toke or Sonde; Bhunge, Bhungere and

Moths (grayish butterflies) commonly called as Pakhara

Larvae (Ali) and some meshy things to which grains are attached (Goli). These are developing stages of insects.

Life cycle of these insects
Both beetles and moths have four stages in their life cycle.
These are egg larva, pupa and adult.

Eggs: These are microscopic and hence can not be noticed.

When grains are ripening in the field, eggs are laid by the insects.

When we purchase our grains from the grocery store, most of the times eggs are already there on these grains.

Larva: After few days, larvae come out of these. They can be easily seen in Rava –Suji, Maida, Rice etc. These are voracious feeders and feed on food grains and grow in size. Mature larva gets converted to Pupa.

Pupa: This is non-feeding stage. In this stage larva undergoes changes known as metamorphosis and gets converted to adult. We can notice this stage as meshy things to which some grains may be attached.

Adult: Pupa develops in adult.

Mature beetles are small dark colored with tough covering. They are commonly found in wheat and pulses. Some of them found in certain pulses like matki, chavli can also fly. These are again voracious feeders. They drill inside food grain and feed on them. In such condition, we may notice some powder at the base of the grains, which drops down during drilling. Adults completely destroy our food grains and make them unusable.

If adult is moth it will not eat. It may fly away when we open our packet or dabba. But before leaving, it might have lead hundreds of eggs on the food grains so that life cycle continues.

Traditional Methods of protecting grains in our country

1. Sunlight: We use sunlight to dry the grains. At high temperatureinsects cannot survive and die out.

2. Chemical methods: For control, we use chemical methods such as

application of castor oil to pulses and wheat,

apllication of Boric power to rice.

We also use mercury tablets (Paradh tikadi) or

Kadunimb leaves (Azadirecta indica).

In Godowns, grains are preserved by spraying pesticides.
However all these chemical methods are more or less harmful for our body.

Practical Difficulties in the use of our traditional method

In city like Mumbai,
i) Even after using above mentioned pest control methods, due to humid air insects may develop.
ii) we do not have open spaces where we can dry them under sunlight.
iii) Since majority of the women in Mumbai are working, they do not have time to guard their grains, even if they want to use sunlight.
With all this background, the method of pest control invented by me is very simple and effective. It is as follows:

COLD TREATMENT

Seal the food grains in plastic bag or very tightly stoppered bottle so that no moisture can enter the container. Place this in deep freeze for two days (48 Hr.)

Principle

Insect pests are very sensitive to temperature changes. They can survive in very small range of temperature nearing room temperature (about 27 degrees). As we decrease the temperature below 6 degrees, all the pests and their developing stages out.

Temperature in deepfreeze is below this temperature and easily available. And we make use of this temperature

Cold treatment does not affect the germinating power of seeds.

ANT CONTROL

Method is also useful in killing ants. You may keep the container with ants in deep freeze for just 10-15 minutes. Ants will not survive cold and die out.

Precaution

After cold treatment, remove container from deep freeze. Do not open it till all the moisture on its surface completely dries. Grains should not come in contact with moisture.

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Dr. Ruta Inamdar's Blog