Study of the Colonization Behaviour of Stored Grains Pest, Sitophilus oryzae L. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Through Determining the Colour Preference.

Stored products are the end products of the agriculture activities of some crops. These products are subject to attacks from some insect pests. The rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae L., 1763) is an important stored product pest that attacks economically important stored grains such as rice and wheat. The current research aimed to study the colour preferences of S. oryzae through the free choice test method, the preference of adult insects to different colour cues was evaluated with a multi-choice test 24 hours after insect release. The research was conducted with three replicates using six colour cues; red, white, black, yellow, green, and blue under laboratory conditions. The observed parameter was the number of adults attracted to the different colour cues. The results showed that the highest preference of S. oryzae was recorded in the green and red colour cues, while the white colour was the least preferred colour. These results could be helpful in the integrated pest management programs to control the stored product insect pest S. oryzae.