Inert Dusts to Control Adults of Some Stored Product Insects in Stored Wheat

The use of natural mineral inert dusts is considered one of the methods for protection of stored grains from insect pests infestation.
Four local rocky dusts were evaluated against four storage insects. Ninivite dust proved to be the most effective of the tested dusts and gave LC50 of 0.12, 0.14, 0.06 and 0.08% for each of T. confusum, T. granarium, O. surinamensis and R. dominica while bentonite dust showed the lowest effect and gave LC50 of 0.74, 0.85, 0.13 and 0.20 for the insect species, respectively. The tested dusts arranged in the follwing order: ninivite< kaolinite< montorillonite< bentonite.
The effect of ninivite dust to O. surinamensis was 2.41, 2.0 and 1.4 times more than T.granarium , T. confusum , and R.dominica , respectively. The use of ninivite dust to prevent insect infestation in stored grains is a successful alternative to insecticides.