Susceptibility of several cultivars of cowpea seeds (Cicer arietinum) to the infestation either by the specialised pest Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) (Coleoptera; Bruchidae) or an unspecialised pest Sitophilus oryzae (Coleopterae; Curculionidae) [Fre

摘要

The chick pea (Cicer arietinum) contains antinutritional compounds that theoretically protect the seeds against an infestation by non specific insect species such as the cereal weevils (Sitophilus spp.). The influence of the improvement of chick pea varieties during the two past decades, on the level of susceptibility of chick pea cultivars currently cultivated for improved agronomic characters in Algeria to specific or non specific insect pests, has been assessed through a comparative laboratory bioassay. The criteria related to the population dynamics of the bruchid beetle Callosobruchus maculatus and of two strains of the rice weevil S. oryzae were comparatively evaluated on five different chick pea varieties. One of these two weevil strains is a mutant, able to develop on dry pea seeds, allowing a direct comparison between specific and non specific insect species for legume seeds infestation. The combination of several criteria of population dynamics allowed the calculation of the susceptibility index of each variety to the three insect species or strains.