Susceptibility of Plodia interpunctella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) developmental stages to high temperatures used during structural heat treatments

Heating the ambient air of a whole, or a portion of a food-processing facility to 50 to 60°C and maintaining these elevated temperatures for 24 to 36 h, is an old technology, referred to as heat treatment. There is renewed interest in adopting heat treatments around the world as a viable insect cont...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bulletin of entomological research 2006-12, Vol.96 (6), p.539-545
Main Authors: Mahroof, R., Subramanyam, B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Developmental stages
duration
Food Parasitology
Fumigation
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
heat stress
heat tolerance
Heat treatment
Heating
High temperature
Hot Temperature
Indian meal moth
Insect control
Invertebrates
Larvae
Life Cycle Stages
Medically important nuisances and vectors, pests of stored products and materials: population survey and control
methyl bromide alternative
methyl bromide alternatives
Mortality
Moths - growth & development
Pests of stored products
Plodia interpunctella
temperature
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Heating the ambient air of a whole, or a portion of a food-processing facility to 50 to 60°C and maintaining these elevated temperatures for 24 to 36 h, is an old technology, referred to as heat treatment. There is renewed interest in adopting heat treatments around the world as a viable insect control alternative to fumigation with methyl bromide. There is limited published information on responses of the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hübner), exposed to elevated temperatures typically used during heat treatments. Time-mortality relationships were determined for eggs, fifth-instars (wandering-phase larvae), pupae, and adults of P. interpunctella exposed to five constant temperatures between 44 and 52°C. Mortality of each stage increased with increasing temperature and exposure time. In general, fifth-instars were the most heat-tolerant stage at all temperatures tested. Exposure for a minimum of 34 min at 50°C was required to kill 99% of the fifth-instars. It is proposed that heat treatments aimed at controlling fifth-instars should be able to control all other stages of P. interpunctella.
ISSN:0007-4853
1475-2670
DOI:10.1079/BER2006454