Two flour types (unpolished flour and polished one) and flour textures (grits and fine) of five cereal grains made up of millet, rice, wheat, sorghum and maize were evaluated under laboratory conditions for their susceptibility and progeny development in Tribolium castaneum in hot dry and cool humid seasons. T. castaneum thrived better during the cool humid season than the hot dry season. Polished flour was less susceptible to infestation and supported lower population of the beetles than unpolished flour. Index of susceptibility was 19.65–20.76% in unpolished flour and 18.89–19.76% in polished flour. The number of progeny that developed were 102.6–135.1 and 98.2–121.4 in unpolished and polished flours, respectively. Similarly, grit flour was significantly less susceptible than fine flour in both seasons. Rice, wheat and sorghum flours were less susceptible and supported significantly lower populations of T. castaneum than millet and maize flours in both seasons. Polished wheat flour supported least progeny number than the flour types of the other cereal grains. Conversely, significantly higher number of progeny developed in polished flour of millet and maize and unpolished flour of wheat. Millet fine flour and maize fine or grit flours were significantly more susceptible to infestation than flours of the other cereal grains.

Postharvest insect pests constitute major threats to food security because they cause qualitative and quantitative damage to agricultural produce. Therefore, eco-friendly and cost-effective measures should be used for their management. In this study, five botanical powders ( Trema orientalis and Crataeva religiosa leaves; and Citrus tangelo, Citrus maxima and Citrus aurantifolia peels) were admixed with Spintor® [1.25 active ingredient (a.i.) mg · kg ^–1] and evaluated as toxicants against Tribolium castaneum. Each botanical powder and spintor was solely applied at 1000 mg · kg ^–1 millet seeds. Spintor-botanical powder mixtures admixed at a ratio of 1 : 1 (w/w) were applied at 500 and 1000 mg · kg ^–1, corresponding to 0.313 and 0.625 a. i. mg · kg ^–1 for spintor in the mixtures, respectively. On the 14th day of exposure, the Citrus species admixed with spintor and applied at 500 mg · kg ^–1 evoked significantly (p < 0.05) higher percentage mortality (72.22–90.28%) than what was observed in the mixture of spintor with T. orientalis (22.08%) or the mixture of spintor with C. religosa (17.92%) applied at 500 mg · kg ^–1. There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the Kaplan-Meier estimates of the treatments against the insects. The time required to kill 50% of the assayed insects (LT50) when Citrus species were admixed with spintor at 500 mg · kg ^–1 (10 days) was shorter than 14 days observed in the mixture of spintor with T. orientalis or C. religiosa. Therefore, admixing spintor with any of the Citrus powders [at 1 : 1 (w/w)] applied at 500 mg · kg ^–1 seed is recommended for the protection of millet seeds against T. castaneum.,

The paper presents the review of scientific publications of world literature on the use of the larvae of black soldier fly ( Hermetia illucens) when feeding poultry. Nowadays, the issue of replacing traditional sources of protein when feeding poultry is very urgent, especially in connection with the global food crisis. Insects are the natural food of most birds; thus, the use of fly larvae for feed production has a biological basis. The research results presented in published works show that there are no negative effects on bird health and meat quality when feeding poultry, quail and other birds. In some cases, the experimental groups of birds gained weight slightly more slowly than the control group. Other reports indicate that birds grew at the same rate as normal birds. The quantity and quality of eggs did not differ significantly, but dietary changes affected the colour of yolks and eggshell. The effect of the addition of live larvae to the diet of young turkeys on the weight characteristics of was studied. Replacing 10% of the daily amount of feed with live Hermetia illucens larvae in the diet of turkeys showed that the daily feed intake and body weight gain of the experimental birds were significantly higher compared to the control groups, which led to a significantly higher body weight of chicks at the age of five weeks (2.19 kg vs. 2.015 kg, respectively) and a significantly lower feed conversion rate. Most researchers agree that replacing protein in poultry feed with insect flour should be partial, in the 15–30% range. Feeding with larvae that have undergone processing – grinding, chitin removing, heat treatment – is more preferable than using whole larvae, since the chitinous membrane makes larvae difficult to be digested in the digestive tract of birds.

The study’s objective was to assess the efficacy and to identify the toxic mechanisms of action of some plant-derived monoterpenes and yucca extract as alternatives to chemical insecticides against the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. Carvone, 1,8-cineole, cuminaldehyde, and linalool, as well as Yucca schidgera extract, were the control agents whose efficacy against the red flour beetle was tested in the laboratory and compared to malathion. The criteria for evaluating efficacy were the effects of the tested compounds on adult mortality and red flour beetle progeny. Furthermore, the effects of the control agents on some enzymes (Acetylcholinesterase, ά-amylase, and alkaline phosphatase) in T. castaneum were investigated. Moreover, the effect of the tested control measures on weight loss of treated wheat grain was studied. The tested substances showed a high ability to control T. castaneum with regard to adult mortality and offspring production, especially when used as fumigants. For adult mortality, malathion showed the highest potential against T. castaneum as a fumigant, followed by carvone, yucca extract, cuminaldehyde, linalool, and 1,8-cineole with LC ₅₀ values of 0.05, 331.5, 365.1, 372.2, 460, and 467.5 mg · 1000 cm ^–2 after 72 hours, respectively. The highest reduction in progeny was for malathion followed by carvone, linalool, cineole, yucca extract, and cuminaldehyde with reduction percentages of 100, 90, 89.3,79.4 and 65.8%, respectively. The tested compounds significantly affected acetylcholinesterase activity, alpha-amylase activity, and alkaline phosphatase in the red flour beetle. There was no significant reduction in the weight of wheat grains treated with the tested materials compared to the untreated healthy grains. Finally, the tested compounds as fumigants, especially 1,8-cineole, can be considered as effective alternatives to control the red flour beetle.