Susceptibility of some stored local spices against the cigarette beetle Lasioderma serricorne . ( Coleoptera : Anobiidae )

Spices are non-leafy dried parts derived from different parts of plants such as bud, fruit, seed, bark, rhizome, bulb used for flavoring and coloring the food. It is attacked by many stored grain pests. Lasioderma Serricorne (Cigarette beetle) as one of the most important destructive pest causes severe economic losses in quantity and nutritional quality. The present work is on the susceptibility of four spices (Caraway, Coriander, Red chili powder and Dandicut/lounge chili). The study was conducted under room conditions at 27-30 ̊Cand 60-70% R.H in September and October while 22-25 ̊C, 50-55% RH in November and December. Ten pairs of newly emerged adults were released in plastic jars, having 40gm of each of four spices. The jars were covered with muslin cloth. The weight of all spices was checked after the interval of fifteen days to observe the intensity of damage by Lasioderma serricorne. The experiment was conducted for a period of four months (September, October, November and December 2015). It was observed that after four months (September to December 2015) 32 gm of caraway and 26 gm of Coriander were consumed by Cigarette beetle followed by 24 gm of Red chili powder. The lowest weight loss was recorded in Dandicut/Lounge chili that was only 8 gm. The result indicates that the most susceptible spices were exhibited more attracted odor and color than others. The multiplication of pest can be limited by decreasing the level of oxygen.


Introduction
Spices are non-leafy dried parts derived from different parts of plants such as bud fruit, seed, bark, rhizome, bulb used for flavoring and coloring the food [1, 2].Spices can be obtained easily in Fresh form as well as Whole or ground dried form.Usually they are dried.Fresh spices have more flavor than dried forms but they are more expensive and have shortest shelf life.The spices more ground or dried they become more flavorless and prolong shelf life.Spices fulfil the requirements of calories, micronutrients, protein, carbohydrate and fat in the diet [3,4].The majority of countries that produces large amount of spices falls in continent Asia because of that Asia is also called "The Land of Spices".India is the largest producer of at least 60 varieties of spices and is considered as "Home of Spices" [5].Global spice production was 2,063,472 in 2011.India contributes 75% of global spice production.World major producers of spices include India (1,525,000 MT), Bangladesh (139,775 MT), Turkey (113,783 MT), China (95,890 MT) and Pakistan (53,620 MT) [6].
As spices are natural ingredients that can help to live a healthy life and used in several food preparations to give it more taste and also stimulate appetite.Different spices involves in digestion, stimulant activity, anti-inflammatory response etc [7].Moreover spices are important to be used in cosmetics, religious rituals and also have medicinal value.They have antibiotic, antimicrobial, anti-oxidant and preservative properties [8].There is a great global demand to produce spices in large amount due to its multiple uses.Spices are attacked by many insect pests during storage, which cause consumption, infestation and allow other microorganisms to decrease the quality and quantity of spices.The infestation also effects on its nutritive value as it decreases the protein, carbohydrate and fat content [9].Stored spices are highly prominent to attack by the Cigarette beetle Lasioderma Serricorne and drug store beetle Stegobium paniceum.Lasioderma Serricorne attacks on a huge variety of products in storage such as cereals, pulses, cocoa beans, cigarettes, spices and dried fruits [10].Most of the damage caused by larval feeding in storage [11] while adults damage causes holes in packaged products to penetrate in it [12].Due to the presence of residual of different life stages of insects the spices become unfit for human diet.The infestation is started when the females of the cigarette beetles attracted by odor of the stored products and oviposit eggs in these spices [13].Therefore, four main spices Caraway, Coriander, Red chili powder and Dandicut/lounge chili were selected for the observation of infestation as these are not only used almost in every Pakistani cousine but their odor and color is very attractant to Cigarette beetle.

Materials and methods
Different spices used for screening However different spices grow in Pakistan but we have selected four commonly used spices in our daily diet and also for other purposes.These spices were (Caraway, Coriander, Red chili powder and Dandicut/lounge chili).The study was carried out in the Laboratory of Entomology of Zoology department, University of Sindh Jamshoro from September to December 2015.

Raising of Lasioderma serricorne culture
Infested spices were obtained from different godowns of Hyderabad and Karachi.The insects were separated from infested spices and brought to the Entomology Laboratory and identified them as Lasioderma serricorne on the basis of physical characters through microscope.The insects were preserved for raising the culture.The culture of Lasioderma serricorne was maintained on a fresh Red chili powder in a plastic jar at 27-30 ˚C as it is suitable temperature for the growth of cigarette beetle and high humidity of 60-70% R.H with 10 hr light and dark cycle for a number of generations in the Laboratory.The newly emerged adults kept preserved for experimental use.

Procedure
The selected spices (Caraway, Coriander, Red chili powder and Dandicut/lounge chili ) were subjected to sterilization by keeping in freezer for one week at -5 ˚C as to kill the already exist any pest.The experiment for observing the damage by Lasioderma serricorne was done in no choice test.In this test the insects were bound to oviposit and develop on the same product to which it releases.Ten pairs of newly emerged adults were released in glass jars having 40gm of each of four spices.The jars were covered with muslin cloth to avoid the escape of insect.The insects were free there for the purpose of damage and oviposition till they died.All the spices were checked after each fifteen days to observe the intensity of infestation and weight loss.The newly emerged adults were continued for next generations.The experiment was conducted for a period of four months (September to December 2015) after the release of Lasioderma serricorne.The difference in damage percentage of each spice was observed by infestation, weight loss and physical properties of each spice.All experiments were conducted under room temperature of 27-30 ˚C suitable for the growth of cigarette beetle and high relative humidity of 60-70% [14] and 22-25 ˚C, 50-55 R.H checked by a Thermo hygrometer and a photoperiod of 10 hr.The weight loss and percent weight loss of each spice was calculated by the following formula used by [15].

Weight loss=weight of damage seedinitial weight
The percentage of weight loss was calculated by this formula: % weight loss= initial weightweight of damage seed / initial weight * 100

Results
In present study i have taken four commonly used spices of Asian food specially in Indo Pak Subcontinent and also used for other purposes such as antimicrobial properties, medicine, nutrition which are beneficial for human health and also it used in religious rituals, cosmetics and as a vegetable.These four spices were tested against the cigarette beetle under room conditions from September to December 2015.The study was conducted to know the percentage of damage and to observe the most susceptible and most tolerant spice against cigarette beetle.They were Caraway, Coriander, Red chili powder and Dandicut/Lounge chili, because these are mostly get infested easily by Lasioderma serricorne in shops or kitchen cabinets.Usually the adults of cigarette beetle are attracted by the odor and presence of different chemical constituent and nutritional values of these spices.Our observation are matched with other researchers like [16] has reported the developmental response of L.Serricorne and S.paniceum on 28 spices and L.serricorne was found most successful specie found on 17 spices.Caraway was fresh and crescent shape, coriander seeds were round shape, Red chili powder and whole was also fresh but we have observed that after the attack of cigarette beetle some changes occurred in the physical properties of spices such as fade in color, bad odor and spices became sticky.Female cigarette beetle laid eggs in groups on the surface of spices Caraway, Coriander, Red chili powder and Dandicut/Lounge chili so they become sticky therefore the spices become bunchy and unusable.Oviposition depends upon nutrients contained by spices and their hard or soft surface.We observed the infestation of cigarette beetle on all four spices and the percentage of infestation was variable on all four spices.Here we discussed all spices one by one.

Infestation of Lasioderma serricorne on caraway
During present study it was observed that the cigarette beetle was heavily infesting Caraway throughout the study period.It was observed that in the months of September and October the consumption of Caraway by cigarette beetle recorded was high 10 and 12 grams (Table 1 and Figure 1).After these months the consumption rate was slowing down in the months of November and December it was recorded 6 and 4 grams (Table 1 and Figure 1).Total consumption of Caraway in four months was recorded 32 grams (Table 1 and Figure 1).The mean was recorded 8.It showed that the Caraway was most susceptible spice against cigarette beetle as it was crescent shaped so it had large surface area for oviposition and it also had a very pleasant smell which attracted the beetle.The consumption rate was affected by both temperature and relative humidity.We found the highest consumption in the months of moderate temperature and high humidity like September and October while lowest in low temperature and low humidity like November and December.

Infestation of Lasioderma serricorne on coriander
In present work it was observed the consumption of cigarette beetle on coriander was also high during whole study period.
The highest consumption was recorded in September and October 8 and 9 grams while in November and December it was decreasing to 6 and 3 grams (Table 2 and Figure 2).Total consumption of cigarette beetle in four months was recorded 26 grams out of 40 grams (Table 2 and Figure 2).Total mean was recorded 6.5 (Table 2 and Figure 2).The results indicated that the coriander was second most susceptible spice.It had round shape seeds.The consumption rate of cigarette beetle on Coriander was also affected by low and high temperature and relative humidity.3 and Figure 3).Total consumption was recorded throughout study period 24 grams out of 40 grams (Table 3 and Figure 3).Total mean was recorded 6 (Table 3 and Figure 3).It showed that the red chili powder was moderate susceptible spice against cigarette beetle.Temperature and relative humidity was also found effecting on the consumption rate of cigarette beetle on red chili powder.Infestation of Lasioderma serricorne on Dandicut/lounge chili It was observed that infestation of cigarette beetle was least on Dandicut/Lounge chili.
The consumption was recorded only 2 grams in all four months September, October, November and December (Table 4 and Figure 4).Total consumption in four months was recorded only 8 grams out of 40 grams (Table 4 and Figure 4).Total mean was 2 (Table 4 and Figure 4).The results indicated that the Dandicut/Lounge chili was least preferred spice by cigarette beetle.

Comparison of total consumption of four spices by cigarette beetle
We have observed the total consumption of four spices against cigarette beetle for the period of four months and found that Caraway was most consumed spice.Total consumption of Caraway was recorded 32 grams out of 40 grams and the percentage of damage was recorded 80 % (Table 5 and Figure 5).Coriander was second most consumed spice.It had total consumption of 26 grams and the percentage of damage was recorded 65 % (Table 5 and Figure 5).Red Chili Powder was found moderately consumed 24 grams, the percentage of damage was recorded 60 % and Dandicut/Loungi chili was least consumed only 8 grams and the percentage of damage was recorded 20 % (Table 5 and Figure 5).

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. The consumption of coriander by cigarette beetle (September-December 2015)

Figure 3 .
Figure 3.The consumption of red chili powder by cigarette beetle (September-December 2015)

Table 5 . The comparison of total weight loss (gm) by Lasioderma serricorne on four spices from September -December 2015 Figure 5. The comparison of total weight loss (gm) by Lasioderma Serricorne on four spices from September -December 2015 Discussion In
[14]ent study, the experiment to evaluate the percentage of damage on spices by cigarette beetle was done from September to October 2015.Our results showed that Caraway was the most preferred spice by cigarette beetle.As it was large in size and had pleasant smell to attract cigarette beetle adults.Our results of Caraway susceptibility disagreed with [17] as he observed developmental response of different insect species on eight medicinal plants and he found Lasioderma serricorne on all tested plants except Caraway and Fennel.But we found maximum development and consumption of Lasioderma serricorne on High growth rate of cigarette beetle depends upon both temperature and humidity that effect on the developmental period of insects[13].Our results revealed the maximum consumption of spices by L.serricorne on moderate temperature 27-30˚C and high relative humidity 60-70 %, while low consumption was recorded on low temperature 22-25˚C and low relative humidity 50-55 %.As[14]have reported that the suitable temperature and humidity for growth rate of cigratte beetle is 30˚C and 70 % R.H.In present work all the four spice are susceptible to Lasioderma serricorne, because of the temperate region there are greater chances of infestation of spices.Among all varieties because of their shape, size and odor the highly infested variety was Caraway while least infested was Dandicut/Lounge chili.Our results showed that physical parameters like temperature, humidity and also nutritional value are the main factors that effect on infestation ratio.Conclusions By present study it was concluded that the caraway and coriander were the most preferred spices by cigarette beetle, as their consumption was recorded 32 and 26 gm respectively.They have short shelf life.Red chili powder exhibited moderate consumption 24 gm while Dandicut/Loungi chili exhibited least consumption 8 gm.Later two spices may have long shelf life.