FORMULATION, COMPOSITION AND USE OF AN ECOLOGICAL INSECTICIDE BASED ON MINERAL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTS FOR THE CONTROL OF PLAGUE INSECTS IN STORED MAIZE AND BEAN GRAINS AND SEEDS.

摘要

Developed is an ecological insecticide based on the mixture of foliage and seeds powder from neem (Azadirachta Indica), lime heavy and light teckies. The idea of developing the inventive compound results from the friction occurred upon walking of maize and bean insects stored within the grain interstices, which obliges the contact of the body thereof with the grains. The addition of powders with abrasive activity to grains is useful for producing excoriations and fissures in the insect cuticle and therefore water lose; a further powder with absorbing abilities reduces humidity from the medium, the combination of both powders producing the insects¿ dehydration and death. Neem added to the composition affects the biological processes of insects, thus provoking the same to have less oviposition and consequently reducing the insect populations that attack stored maize and bean seeds. The components of the inventive ecological insecticide are harmless to the environment and fauna. The biol ogical efficacy of said compound was tested against maize and bean weevils in an experiment developed in Texcoco, Mexico. The present work was performed from August to December 1999; at the end of the experiment it was observed that the doses of 7.5 kg, 10 kg and 12.5 kg of the ecological insecticide effectively protected maize and bean grains. The use of the ecological insecticide to be patented allows insects in stored maize and bean grains to be a satisfactorily controlled, which due to the nature of the components thereof is harmless to the environment and human¿s health.