Biological screening of Curcuma longa L. for insecticidal and repellent potentials against Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) adults

Abstract

The turmeric, Curcuma longa L. is a common spice belongs to the family Zingiberaceae. It is useful in disease of blood, leucoderma, scabbies, urinary discharges, inflammations, snake-bite, small pox, swelling, etc. (Kirtikar & Basu, 1935); in chronic otorhoea (Nadkarni, 1998); in antibacterial infection (Rambir Singh et al., 2002). It contains ar-turmeron, ar-curcumene, α and β pineane sabinene, myrcene, α-terpinene, P-cymenene, perillyl-alcohol, turmerone, eugenol, iso-eugenol, etc. (Hussain et al., 1992). However, C. longa has some phytochemical and medicinal properties, but its use for the control of crop pests and the information on its efficacy against stored grain pest is still scanty. So, the insecticidal and repellent activity tests of C. longa extracts have been attempted and the investigation has been designed to evaluate the efficacy of the test plant as a possible source of potential secondary metabolites to be used as environment friendly pest control agents.