author(s)
Manju K, J Jayaraj and M Shanthi

abstract
In the present study, the toxicity of seven essential and aromatic oils viz; neem oil, mint oil, citronella oil, mustard oil, geranium oil, coconut oil and eucalyptus oil were evaluated against pulse beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus Fab. in green gram seeds through contact, fumigant, repellency and settling behavior bioassay. All the treatments were found significantly superior in causing mortality of the pulse beetle compared to the untreated check. Citronella oil showed a maximum mortality for both fumigant and contact toxicity assays (100% and 93.75%) and strongest repellent (100%) against pulse beetle. The toxicity of the oils is in the order of efficacy is citronella ˃ geranium ˃ mint ˃ mustard ˃ coconut ˃ neem ˃ eucalyptus. Generally the oil persistency was minimum; hence in order to increase the persistency, the dust formulation of essential oils of citronella, geranium and mint oil were prepared at 5, 10 and 15 percent. The results indicated, the dust formulations of citronella and mint oil were found to be effective at 10% and geranium oil at 15%.