Catechol - an Oviposition Stimulant for Cigarette Beetle in Roasted Coffee Beans

The cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne, is a serious global pest that preys on stored food products. Larvae of the beetle cannot grow on roasted coffee beans or dried black or green tea leaves, although they oviposit on such products. We investigated oviposition by the beetles on MeOH extracts of the above products. The number of eggs laid increased with an increase in dose of each extract, indicating that chemical factors stimulate oviposition by the beetles. This was especially true for \ coffee bean extracts, which elicited high numbers of eggs even at a low dose (0.1 g bean equivalent/ml) compared to other extracts. Coffee beans were extracted in hexane, chloroform, 1-butanol, MeOH, and 20 % MeOH in water. The number of eggs laid was higher on filter papers treated with chloroform, 1-butanol, MeOH, and 20 % MeOH in water extracts than on control (solvent alone) papers. The chloroform extract was fractionated by silica-gel column chromatography. Nine compounds were identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry from an active fraction. Of these compounds, only a significant ovipositional response to catechol was observed.