Nanoencaspsulation of cysteine protease for the management of stored grain pest, Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier)

Abstract Attaining food security is crucial to feed increasing population. Minimizing post harvest losses is a good solution to food scarcity. Hence, cereals are staple food for most of the developing countries, there is a need to develope a biopesticide against stored product pests to avoid post-harvest losses. Current study involves the development of an eco-friendly tool to manage stored product insect pests by nanoencapsulation of 25 kDa cysteine protease isolated from Albizia procera (ApCP). The nanoencapsulation was tested on Sitotroga cerealella. The ApCP was tested as an insecticide (with and without GQDs encapsulation) at three different concentrations (7.0, 3.5 and 1.7 mg of ApCP/g of wheat flour pellets). Sitotroga cerealella was fed to treated diet and tested for life cycle stages. ApCP was 100% more efficient against the test insect after encapsulation with GQDs, at 7.0 and 3.5 mg/g concentrations, resulting in no population build-up, while 1.7 mg/g concentration exhibited fewer population numbers. ApCP exhibited increased insectidial efficacy due to encapsulation with GQDs. The results suggested that ApCP encapsulation with GQDs has the potential to control the insect pest and could be commercially developed as a biopesticide.