1 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. Screening of legumes against pulse beetle [Callosobruchus chinensis (L.), Coleoptera: Bruchidae] under storage condition in Chitwan, Nepal Janak Pant1+ Bhuwan Poudel2 Dinesh Phuyal3 Prem Pandey4 Richa Devkota5 Subash Bishwakarma6 Suman Khanal7 1,2,4,5,6,7Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Chitwan, Nepal. 1Email: Janakpant500@gmail.com 2Email: agribhuwan.notes@gmail.com 4Email: pandeyprem73@gmail.com 5Email: devkotaricha83@gmail.com 6Email: agbksubash@gmail.com 7Email: sumankhanalshow@gmail.com 3Agriculture and Forestry University, Chitwan, Nepal. 3Email: phuyaldines@tamu.edu (+ Corresponding author) ABSTRACT Article History Received: 3 December 2024 Revised: 6 January 2025 Accepted: 15 January 2025 Published: 21 January 2025 Keywords Damage Grains Host Legumes Resistant Treatment. The study was carried out to find out the host preference of pulse beetles against different legumes at the entomology laboratory. It is found that the major cause of heavy loss of grain legumes in the storage condition is the pulse beetles (Callosobruchus chinensis L.). Farmers grow large scale of legumes, however, due to the pest especially Callosobruchus chinensis, the productivity of grain legumes is low, so the study focused on finding the susceptible and resistant legumes. Study carried out at the entomology laboratory of Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences, Rampur, Chitwan. The experiment was carried out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. Seven different legumes were used as treatment in the experiment. After 20 days of treatment chickpea seems most susceptible legumes than other as the average number of beetles were highest in chickpea (35.666) and least number of beetles was found in kidney bean (3.333) which denotes the most resistant legumes against pulse beetle after 20 days after treatment. Later, the average number of pulse beetles increased rapidly in lentils till last recording and the pulse beetle number in kidney beans seems to be null. After 100 DAT (Days After Treatment), the total number of damaged grains per 100 seeds is found maximum in Pea (10.68) and Cowpea (10.68) minimum in Soybean (0.00) and Kidney bean (0.00). Based on host preferences lentil was best host and was most susceptible to pulse beetle and kidney bean as least susceptible to the pulse beetle. Contribution/Originality: The study focuses on numerous legumes together to identify their resistance level and infestation by the grain pest. The level of pest resistance was different in varying legumes. Research carried for a long period in the laboratory with the application of treatments and reflects the practical challenges of farmers at field level. 1. INTRODUCTION Grain legumes are the most important type of food after cereals in world, especially southeast Asia. Legumes are ideal for various cropping system, human nutrition, crop diversification, soil nitrogen management, intercropping and adaptability to marginal land. Pulses are a major part of the dietary protein as they are cheaper to animal protein source. Various types of leguminous crop are cultivated throughout the country. They have been Current Research in Agricultural Sciences 2025 Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 1-9 ISSN(e): 2312-6418 ISSN(p): 2313-3716 DOI: 10.18488/cras.v12i1.4043 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3278-1016 https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5328-4846 https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9936-0002 https://orcid.org/0009-0004-8533-6829 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6017-9565 https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0237-8601 mailto:Janakpant500@gmail.com mailto:agribhuwan.notes@gmail.com mailto:pandeyprem73@gmail.com mailto:devkotaricha83@gmail.com mailto:agbksubash@gmail.com mailto:sumankhanalshow@gmail.com mailto:phuyaldines@tamu.edu https://www.doi.org/10.18488/cras.v12i1.4043 Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2025, 12(1): 1-9 2 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. playing a significant role in Nepalese Agriculture for meeting the dietary protein need s of the people. Besides these crop residue and byproducts such as fodder, feeds and firewood are valuable [1]. In the world, grain legumes are grown in 69.29 million ha with production of 64 million tons and productivity of 924 kg per ha during 2009 [2]. India is the largest grower with 30 % share in area and 23% share in production. In Nepal grain legumes collectively rank 4th place in terms of area and production after rice, maize, and wheat. They cover 10% of total cultivated area and grown in 319, 472 ha. With production and productivity of 262, 357 ton and 821 kg per ha respectively [2]. Nepal contributes about 0.4% of world pulse area and production. In recent year, the area and productivity has been slowly increasing, which increase to 334323 ha of crop land with production of 319769.8 ton and productivity of 956 kg per ha [3]. In Nepal per capita consumption of pulses is around 10 kg / capita / annum, which is very low compared to the standard of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recommendation of 18 kg / capita / annum (or 50 gm./ capita /day) [4]. Legume is grown in the Terai, Inner Terai, mild hill, high hill after rice and maize. It is traditionally grown either as sole crop or as mixed crop with mustard wheat and / or linseed on marginal land with poor, management [5]. Lower production and productivity of grain legumes is due to the various biotic and abiotic constraints [6, 7]. Among many productions constraints insect pest ranked third based on losses and the storage losses is estimated to be 9% in developed country and 20% or more in developing county [8]. Many species of insect are found in store grains but only few causes damage and loss. The pulse beetles (Callosobruchus spp) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is a major economically important pest of grain legumes [9, 10]. In Nepal, it was reported that 10.12 % of the total production of pulses destroyed during post-harvest operation [11]. Annual grain loss in storage due to insect is about 15% [12]. For the management of this insect pest various physical, mechanical, and chemical methods have been practice globally. In Nepal, the farmers intensively use chemical pesticides to control pulse beetle in grain legumes [13]. The most used pesticides in storage are Aluminum Phosphide [14]. Nearly 1500 pesticide poisoning related death annually in the county over the last five years [15]. Majority of cases are due to intentional poisoning and a significant number of accidental poisonings is with the use of storage pesticides [16]. Chemical method of insect pest control has several problems, including health hazard to the farmers as well as grain consumers. Therefore, plant product with insecticidal properties can be best alternatives to the chemical pesticides that are extensively being used in developing countries [17, 18]. Present study was conducted to determine pest intensity and their loss in storage pest (Callosobrochus chinensis). 1.1. Objectives 1.1.1. Broad Objectives • Documentation of pest intensity and losses due to storage pest (Callosobrochus chinensis) in storage. 1.1.2. Specific Objectives • To identify the most economical storage pest in legumes. • To evaluate the intensity of infestation of pulse beetle in different legumes. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS The research was conducted in entomology laboratory of Institute of Agriculture and Animal science (IAAS, Rampur Campus, Rampur Chitwan) from September 2015 to January 2016. Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2025, 12(1): 1-9 3 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 2.1. Maintenance of Insect Culture Insect specimen of Callosobruchus chinensis L. was obtained from Rampur Gurung community for the maintenance of insect culture, mass rearing of Callosobruchus chinensis L. was performed at room temperature for one generation on bulk of chickpea variety. 2.2. The Seed The different legumes seeds (lentil, chickpea, cowpea, pea, black gram, kidney bean and soybean) were obtained from nearby shop. 2.3. Major Tools and Equipment Aluminium sheet bin, Binocular Microscope, magnifying hand lens, muslin cloth, rubber band, aspirators, sieves, net, etc. were the major tools and equipment used during the experiment. 2.4. Experiment on Host Preference of Callosobruchus Chinensis L. Seven different types of legumes were tested for the host preference of insect. All the legumes were procured from shop before experiment each grain legumes were washed thoroughly with tap water and shade dried, to maintain moisture level of seed. Seeds were made free from dirt, dust, chemicals etc. After that the study was replicated three times with seven treatments. 200gm seed of each legume was kept separately in clean aluminum sheet bin (23cm height and 12.5cm diameter). Adult species of Callosobruchus chinensis were taken from the mass culture using aspirator in the glass Petri dish (9cm diameter) and five pairs of pulse beetle was released in the center of bin. Then the mouth of seed bin was capped with fine meshes cotton cloth fastened with rope tightly. Thereafter the experiment was left for observation. Data was recorded in each twenty days intervals. The experiment was designed on completely Randomized Design (CRD) and consist of seven treatments with single factor with three replications (Table 1). Table 1. Legumes included in host preference study with moisture content measured by moisture meter. Treatments Legumes Moisture content at experimentation Trt1 Lentil 12% Trt2 Pea 13% Trt3 Cowpea 11% Trt4 Soybean 10% Trt5 Chickpea 13.5% Trt6 Black gram 12% Trt7 Kidney bean 9% Note: TRT: Treatment, %: Percentage. 2.5. Design of Experiment The experiment was design on completely randomized design (CRD), which consists of seven treatments with three replications. The aluminum metal bins were selected as storage structure and cowpea, lentil, chickpea, black gram, soybean, pea, and kidney bean were seven treatments. Thus, there were altogether 21 aluminum bins used and each metal bin was an experimental unit containing 200 gm of each legumes seed (Table 2). Table 2. Description of treatment and quantity used. Note: G: Gram. Treatment Quantity used T1 (Lentil) 200g per aluminum sheet bin T2 (Pea) 200g per aluminum sheet bin T3 (Cowpea) 200g per aluminum sheet bin T4 (Soybean) 200g per aluminum sheet bin T5 (Chickpea) 200g per aluminum sheet bin T6 (Black gram) 200g per aluminum sheet bin T7 (Kidney bean) 200g per aluminum sheet bin Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2025, 12(1): 1-9 4 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 2.6. Layout of the Design Table 3 presents that the layout of the research consists of seven treatments (i.e., lentil, pea, cowpea, soybean, chickpea, black gram, kidney bean), and were replicated 3 times. Each treatment were replicated for three times. Table 3. Layout of design. T1R2 T2R3 T1R1 T6R3 T5R2 T3R2 T4R1 T7R3 T2R1 T6R1 T3R1 T7R2 T2R2 T4R3 T7R1 T5R3 T3R3 T5R1 T6R2 T1R3 T4R2 Note: T: Treatment used in the experiment, R: Replication number. 2.7. Observation and Data Recording The total number of live adult insect after treatment setup was recorded at 20 days after treatment (DAT). At the same time, number of dead insects, number of holes per 100 seed from each experimental unit were also recorded. 100 seeds were randomly selected from each experimental unit. Dead insects counted at each observation were thrown out and live insects were kept in respective metal bins. 2.8. Weather Records Maximum and minimum temperature, rainfall and humidity were also recorded throughout the experimental period and the daily weather was recorded and presented in Appendix. 2.9. Data Management and Analysis The recorded data was arranged and analyzed by using M. S. Excel 2013 and R studio. Table 4. Total no of insects in different legumes at every 20 days interval in lab condition at Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal. S.no. Treatment 20DAT 40DAT 60DAT 80DAT 100DAT 1. Lentil 26.000 bc 106.00a 167.000a 252.666a 958.333a 2. Pea 15.000 cd 52.666 bc 103.000b 37.333b 73.666b 3. Cowpea 19.000cd 62.666 ab 28.333c 24.000b 100.000b 4. Soybean 16.666cd 12.666 bc 1.333c 1.333b 0.000b 5. Chickpea 44.333a 48.333 bc 82.333b 70.000b 33.333b 6. Black gram 36.666ab 17.333bc 14.333c 3.666 b 0.333b 7. Kidney bean 10.000d 0.000c 0.666c 0.000b 0.000b 8. Grand mean 23.952 42.809 56.714 55.571 166.523 9. C.V. 29.008 65.049 40.456 82.058 55.950 10. LSD 12.360 49.540 40.817 81.124 165.749 11. P. value 0.0005 *** 0.008** 7.04e-06 *** 0.000198 *** 2.09e-07 *** Note: a, b, c, d means in a column having same letter(s) do not differ significantly at 5% probability by DMRT, DAT: Days after treatment, C.V: Coefficient of variation, LSD: Least significant difference, P. value: Probability value., *** means they are statistically different at probability values of P 0.001, respectively. 3. RESULTS 3.1. Host Preference of Callsobruchus Chinensis L. to Different Legumes After 20 days of treatment, the number of pulse beetle is statistically higher in chickpea (44.33) followed by Black gram (36.66), Lentil (26.00), Cowpea (19.00) at par with Soybean (16.66), Pea (15.00) and lowest number of pulse beetle is found in Kidney bean (10.00). After 40 days of treatment, the number of pulse beetle is statistically higher in Lentil (106.00) followed by cowpea (62.66) at par with pea (52.66), chickpea (48.33), black gram (17.33) and lowest number of pulse beetle is found in kidney bean (0.00). Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2025, 12(1): 1-9 5 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. After 60 days of treatment the number of pulse beetle is significantly higher in lentil (167.00) followed by pea (103.00) as par with chickpea (82.333) followed by cowpea (28.333) which is as par with black gram (14.333), soybean (1.333) and least number of pulse beetle is reported in kidney bean (0.666) (Figure 1). After of 80 days of treatment, the number of pulse beetle is highest in Lentil (252.666), followed by chickpea (70.000) which is as par with pea (37.333), cowpea (27.000), black gram (3.666), soybean (1.333) and least number of pulse beetle is found in kidney bean (0.000). After 100 days of treatment, the number of pulse beetle is statistically higher in Lentil (958.333) followed by pea (100.000), cowpea (73.666) as par with chickpea (3.333), black gram (0.333), soybean (0.000) and kidney bean (0.000) (Table 4). Figure 1. Total no of insects after every 20 days interval in lab condition. Table 5. Total number of live insects at different legumes in every 20 days interval in lab condition at Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal. S.no. Treatment 20DAT 40DAT 60DAT 80DAT 100DAT 1. Lentil 23.666 bc 69.000 a 71.333 a 217.333 a 742.000 a 2. Pea 13.333 cd 42.666 abc 14.666 bc 24.666 b 58.666 b 3. Cowpea 16.333 bc 49.000 ab 6.666 c 20.000 b 92.000 b 4. Soybean 12.666 cd 0.000 c 0.000 c 0.000 b 0.000 b 5. Chickpea 35.666 a 36.000 abc 68.666 ab 32.333 b 7.666 b 6. Black gram 27.000 ab 4.666 bc 0.666 c 0.333 b 0.000 b 7. Kidney bean 3.333 d 0.000 c 0.000 0.000 b 0.000 b 8. Grand mean 18.857 28.761 23.142 42.095 128.619 9. C.V. 31.212 82.765 131.486 106.198 58.357 10. LSD 10.470 42.348 54.134 79.528 133.529 11. P. value 0.001 ‘**’ 0.020 * 0.0335 * 0.000643 *** 3.16e-07 *** Note: a, b, c, d means in a column having same letter(s) do not differ significantly at 5% probability by DMRT, DAT: Days after treatment, C.V: Coefficient of variation, LSD: Least significant difference, P. value: Probability value, *, **, and *** means they are statistically different at probability values of P ≤ 0.05, ≤ 0.01 and ≤ 0.001, respectively. After 20 days of treatment, the number of live pulse beetle is statistically higher in chickpea (35.666) followed by black gram (27.000), Lentil (23.666) as par with cowpea (18.333), pea (13.333, soybean (12.666) and least number of pulse beetle is found in kidney bean (3.333). After 40 days of treatment, the number of live pulse beetle is statistically higher in Lentil (69.00) followed by cowpea (49.00), pea (42.666), chickpea (36.000), black gram (4.666) and least number of pulse beetle is found in soybean (0.000) and kidney bean (0.000). After 60 days of treatment, the number of live pulse beetle is found higher in lentil (71.333) followed by chickpea (68.666), pea (14.666), cowpea (6.666), black gram (0.666) and least number of pulse beetle is found in soybean (0.000) and kidney bean (0.000) (Figure 2). Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2025, 12(1): 1-9 6 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. After 80 days of treatment, the number of live pulse beetle is found higher in Lentil (217.333) followed by chickpea (32.333), pea (24.666), cowpea (20.000), black gram (0.333) and least number of live pulse beetle is found in soybean (0.000) and kidney bean (0.000). After 100 days of treatment, the number of live pulse beetle is found higher in Lentil (742.000) followed by cowpea (92.00), pea (58.666), chickpea (7.666) and least number of live pulse beetle is reported in soybean (0.000), black gram (0.000) and kidney bean (0.000) (Table 5). Figure 2. Total no of live insects after every 20 days interval in lab condition. Table 6. Total no of holes in 100 seeds of the legumes. S.no. Treatment 20DAT 40DAT 60DAT 80DAT 100DAT 1. Lentil 1.666 ab 4.333 ab 4.333 bc 3.666 b 7.3333 ab 2. Pea 1.333 ab 7.667a 8.666 ab 11.333 a 10.667 a 3. Cowpea 2.000 a 2.333 bc 4.000 bc 5.666 ab 10.667 a 4. Soybean 0.666ab 0.000 c 0.000 c 0.000 b 0.000 b 5. Chickpea 0.333 b 2.333 bc 14.333 a 12.666 a 10.333 a 6. Black gram 1.333 ab 1.000 bc 0.666 c 0.000 b 0.333 b 7. Kidney bean 1.000 ab 0.333 bc 4.000 bc 0.000 b 0.000 b 8. Grand mean 1.1904 2.571 5.142 4.761 5.6190 9. C.V. 70.199 83.508 62.888 79.372 79.841 10. LSD 1.486 3.820 5.753 6.723 7.981 11. P. value 0.288 0.0111 * 0.002 ** 0.003 ** 0.017 * Note: a, b, c, d means in a column having same letter(s) do not differ significantly at 5% probability by DMRT, DAT: Days after treatment, C.V: Coefficient of variation, LSD: Least significant difference, P. value: Probability value, * and ** means they are statistically different at probability values of P ≤ 0.05 and ≤ 0.01 respectively. 3.2. Total Number of Holes In 100 Seeds of Different Legumes at 20 Days Interval By observing the data above, it is found that after 20 days of treatment the maximum average no of holes in 100 seeds is found in cowpea (2 seeds with holes) at par with lentil (1.66) followed by pea (1.33), black gram (1.33), kidney bean (1.00) and least number of holes in 100 seeds is found in chickpea. Similarly, after 40 DAT the maximum average number of holes are observed in pea (7.667) at par with lentil (4.33) and followed by cowpea (2.33), chickpea (2.33), black gram (1.00), kidney bean (0.333) and least number of the holes are found in soybean (0). After 60 DAT the maximum average number of the holes are found in chickpea (14.333) at par with pea (8.666) followed by lentil (4.333), cowpea (4), kidney bean (4) and the least number of holes are found in black gram (0.666), and soybean (0). Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2025, 12(1): 1-9 7 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. After 80 DAT the average no of holes in chickpea is found maximum (12.666), at par with pea 11.333) followed by cowpea (5.666), lentil (3.666) and least number of average holes is found in black gram (0), soybean (0) and kidney bean (0) (Figure 3). Finally, after 100 DAT the average number of the holes in 100 seeds is maximum in pea (10.667) and cowpea (10.667) at par with chickpea (10.333) and followed by lentil (7.333), black gram (0.333) and average number of holes in 100 seeds is found least in soybean (0) and kidney bean (0) (Table 6). Figure 3. Total number of damaged grains by pulse beetle in 20 days interval in lab condition. 4. DISCUSSIONS The growth and development of the pulse beetle in different seeds of the legumes depends on the quality, compactness, and size of the seed. Similarly, the factors influencing on oviposition, which consequently delays pulse beetle development [19, 20]. The pulse beetle prefers chickpea, but it was also reported that it feeds several other legumes named lentil (lens esculenta), cowpea (Vigna ungulata), blackgram (phaseolus mungo. L.), soybean (Glycine max Merr), kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and garden pea (Pisium sativum) [21]. Similarly in a study of host preference of C. chinensis they found that lentil was the best host substrate followed by gram, pea and cowpea for oviposition and adult emergence. Present study revealed that the response of different legumes against pulse beetle and might be its ovipositional behavior of beetle on legumes. As in our experiment the total number of pulse beetle were recorded maximum in lentil [21]. Although the total number of insects were found maximum in lentil but the number of damaged grains in lentil were comparatively lower than the other legumes because most of the small, seeded legumes are less preferred than the large, seeded legumes by pulse beetle for their oviposition. It was also reported by Pandey, et al. [22]. The maximum number of insects were recorded in lentil followed by chickpea, pea, cowpea, black gram, soybean, and least number of beetles were recorded in kidney bean. Significantly very few numbers of beetle were recorded in kidney bean and soybean due to the poor adult emergence in those legumes whose seed coat is hard and thick. 5. CONCLUSION The research was conducted to determine potentiality of pest and losses due to striae pest. After 20 days of treatment chickpea seems most susceptible legumes than other as the average number of beetles is highest in chickpea (35.666) and least number of beetles was found in kidney bean (3.333) which denotes the most resistant legumes against pulse beetle after 20 days after treatment. Later, the average number of pulse beetles increases rapidly in lentils till last recording and the pulse beetle number in kidney beans seems to be null. Overall Current Research in Agricultural Sciences, 2025, 12(1): 1-9 8 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. experiment signifies that based on host preferences lentil was best host and is most susceptible to pulse beetle and kidney bean was least susceptible to the pulse beetle. 6. RECOMMENDATION Farmers are recommended to pay intense attention while storing lentils than other legumes. The findings also proved that other legumes are also highly infested by pulse beetles so special care should be given while storing grains and legumes. Researchers who are intended to do research in storage pests, especially in pulse beetles are recommended to find the most suitable storing structure for storing grains and legumes, not only this they should recommend the proper management of the pulse beetle. Funding: This study received no specific financial support. Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable. Transparency: The authors state that the manuscript is honest, truthful, and transparent, that no key aspects of the investigation have been omitted, and that any differences from the study as planned have been clarified. This study followed all writing ethics. Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors’ Contributions: All authors contributed equally to the conception and design of the study. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. REFERENCES [1] T. D. Dhumal and J. S. Waghmare, "A pediculicidal activity of clove oil," International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 857-865, 2015. [2] FAO, Food and agriculture organization of the United Nations, production yearbook 2003. Rome: FAO, 2011. 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