Efficacy of nano-extracted Destruxin from Metarhizium anisopliae against red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, and confused flour beetle, Tribolium confusum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), under laboratory and store conditions

Abstract: The destruxin is a cyclic hexadepsipeptides produced by entomopathogenic and phytopathogenic fungi five amino acids and one hydroxyl acid. The effect of destruxin and nano-destruxin on the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, and confused flour beetle, Tribolium confusum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), under laboratory and store conditions were studied. The results showed that the mean number of the eggs laid/female of T. castaneum significantly decreased to 166.6 ± 9.4 and 38.6 ± 9.1eggs/female when treated with destruxin and nano-destruxin, respectively, as compared to 298.1 ± 9.4 eggs/female in the control. When T. confusum were treated with destruxin and nano-destruxin the number of eggs/female significantly decreased to 101.6 ± 4.4 eggs/female and 50.6 ± 9.1 eggs/female when treated with nano-destruxin as compared to 297.9 ± 5.3 eggs/female in the control. When T. castaneum was treated with destruxin the number of eggs laid/female were significantly decreased to 31.8 ± 6.9 eggs/female after 120 days. The number of eggs laid/female significantly decreased to 11.8 ± 3.5, 21.7 ± 1.8, 30.1 ± 4.5 and 41.1 ± 1.5 eggs/female after 20, 45, 90 and 120 days when treated with nano-destruxin. The percentage of adult emergence were decreased to 1, 5, 11 and 19%.