Journal of Pest Science

, Volume 84, Issue 1, pp 99–105 | Cite as

Entomotoxic effect of silica nanoparticles against Sitophilus oryzae (L.)

  • Nitai Debnath
  • Sumistha Das
  • Dipankar Seth
  • Ramesh Chandra
  • Somesh Ch. Bhattacharya
  • Arunava Goswami
Original Paper
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Fumigants and residual insecticides are commonly used to combat stored grain pests. In recent years, consumer awareness of the health hazard from residual toxicity and the growing problem of insect resistance to these conventional insecticides have led the researchers to look for alternative strategies for stored grains protection. For example, diatomaceous earth (DE) can be effective against stored grain insects. In this study, DE was used to design amorphous nano sized hydrophilic, hydrophobic, and lipophilic silica in 15–30 nm size range. Nanocides are expected to reduce the volume of application and kinetics of development of resistance in pests. We hypothesized that surface-functionalized silica nanoparticle (SNP) might be a viable alternative to conventional pesticides. Entomotoxicity of SNP was tested against rice weevil Sitophilus oryzae and its efficacy was compared with bulk-sized silica (individual particles larger than 1 μm). Amorphous SNP was found to be highly effective against this insect pest causing more than 90% mortality, indicating the effectiveness of SNP to control insect pests.

Keywords

Nanocides Sitophilus oryzae Amorphous nanosilica 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

Authors would like to thank Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, (DBT) (grant Nos—BT/PR9050/NNT/28/21/2007 & BT/PR8931/NNT/28/07/2007) and NAIP, ICAR (grant No—NAIP/Comp-4/C3004/2008-09) for their financial support. Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) plan project for 2008-2011 was also used for funding this work. Authors are also grateful to Mr. Debashis Roy and Raju Maity (Indian Statistical Institute) for their assistance in statistical analysis, and Mrs. Indrani Roy for her valuable suggestions regarding this manuscript.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  • Nitai Debnath
    • 1
    • 2
  • Sumistha Das
    • 1
  • Dipankar Seth
    • 1
  • Ramesh Chandra
    • 3
  • Somesh Ch. Bhattacharya
    • 4
  • Arunava Goswami
    • 1
  1. 1.Biological Sciences DivisionIndian Statistical InstituteKolkataIndia
  2. 2.West Bengal University of TechnologyKolkataIndia
  3. 3.Institute Instrumentation & Centre of NanotechnologyIndian Institute of TechnologyRoorkeeIndia
  4. 4.Agricultural & Ecological Research UnitIndian Statistical InstituteGiridihIndia

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