Methyl Bromide as a Quarantine Treatment for Chlorophorus annularis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in Raw Bamboo Poles

• Published in: Journal of economic entomology 2009-06, Vol.102 (3), p.913-920
• Main Authors: Barak, Alan V, Weidong, Yang, Daojian, Yu, Yi, Jiao, Lin, Kang, Zhilin, Chen, Xingyuan, Ling, Guoping, Zhan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Aphis; application rate; Bambusa; Biological and medical sciences; Borers; Cerambycidae; Chlorophorus; Chlorophorus annularis; Coleoptera; Coleoptera - drug effects; Coleoptera - physiology; Commerce - legislation & jurisprudence; COMMODITY TREATMENT AND QUARANTINE ENTOMOLOGY; containers; Control; Data processing; dose response; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Fumigation; Fumigation - methods; fumigation schedule; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Generalities; Hydrocarbons, Brominated - toxicity; insect control; Insect Control - methods; Insecta; Invertebrates; Methyl bromide; mortality; Packing; Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection; postharvest treatment; Protozoa. Invertebrates; Quarantine; Sasa - parasitology; Temperature; Temperature effects; wood poles
• ISSN: 0022-0493; 1938-291X; 0022-0493
• DOI: 10.1603/029.102.0308

At least 26 different species of insects of quarantine significance were intercepted from 1985 to 2005 on bamboo (Bambusa spp.) garden stakes from China. Three fifths of the live insects were cerambycids in nine genera, including Chlorophorus annularis F., the bamboo borer. The current APHIS-PPQ treatment is fumigation schedule T404-d, which requires high doses of methyl bromide (MeBr) for 24 h. No specific fumigation data exist for C. annularis. Chinese and American quarantine scientists cooperated in testing to determine whether this schedule, or lower doses, would be effective as a quarantine treatment for C. annularis infesting dried bamboo poles. A lower dose based on APHIS tests for solid wood packing (SWP) failed (3/511 survivors) at 56 g/m3 for 24 h at 10.0°C. We therefore tested five progressive doses at five temperatures intermediate between the lower SWP schedule and the much higher applied doses (e.g., 120 g/m3 for 24 h at 10.0°C) of schedule T404-d. Fumigations of infested bamboo poles conducted in 403.2-liter chambers with 52% vol:vol loading at doses of 48, 64, 80, 96, and 112 g/m3 at 26.7, 21.1, 15.6, 10.0, and 4.4°C, respectively (20 total replicates, with 4 replicates per dose), had no survivors among 2,847 larvae, 140 pupae, and 122 adults. Control replicates (three) had a total of 455 live stages (397 larvae, 31 pupae, and 27 adults). Tests conducted with a sea/land cargo container loaded to 80% capacity with bamboo poles verified the ability of the schedule to maintain effective concentrations over 24 h in commercial-sized fumigations. We propose a new bamboo quarantine treatment schedule at reduced rates of applied MeBr.