Abstract
Thermal treatment has been extensively used to control pests in stored grains for a long time. The objective of this study was to analyze thermal death kinetics of adult flat grain beetle, Cryptolestes pusillus (Schonherr), lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica (Fabricius), and confused flour beetle, Tribolium confusum (Jacquelin du Val), using a heating block system (HBS), at temperatures of 46, 48, 50, and 52 °C for C. pusillus and T. confusum, and 48, 50, 52, and 54 °C for R. dominica with a heating rate of 5 °C/min. Thermal death curves of those three insects followed a 0th-order reaction model. Complete mortality of C. pusillus, R. dominica, and T. confusum were observed after exposure to 1.4, 5.0, and 0.9 min at 52, 54 and 52 °C, respectively. The thermal death activation energy for controlling C. pusillus, R. dominica, and T. confusum was 689.91, 380.88, and 617.08 kJ/mol with z values of 2.88, 5.18, and 3.22 °C, respectively. The cumulative lethal time model can also be used to predict mortality of these three insects during a practical heating process. The information provided by this study on storage pests may be useful for developing effective thermal treatment protocols.
Highlights
Flat grain beetle, Cryptolestes pusillus (Schonherr), lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica (Fabricius), and confused flour beetle, Tribolium confusum (Jacquelin du Val), are major pests of stored products worldwide [1,2,3]
The survival ratios for control adult C. pusillus, R. dominica, and T. confusum, placed in heating block system (HBS) at for 60, 75, and 150 min, were 98.15 ± 0.41%, 98.73 ± 0.52%, and 97.23 ± 0.17%, respectively, indicating that the effect of handling operation on the survival ratio of treated insects was negligible
Pusillus, R. dominica, and T. confusum changed with kinetic orders and treated temperatures
Summary
Cryptolestes pusillus (Schonherr), lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica (Fabricius), and confused flour beetle, Tribolium confusum (Jacquelin du Val), are major pests of stored products worldwide [1,2,3]. They infest stored grain, beans, nuts, and oil seeds, and could create feeding holes on kernels. It is necessary to develop effective methods to control these storage pests. With increased insect resistance to chemicals and concerns for environmental pollutions, and food safety requirements, there have been renewed efforts to investigate non-chemical insect control methods [5,6]
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