Fumigation by aluminum phosphide under accelerated conditions against date moth, Ephestia cautella (Walker): (Lepidoptera; Pyralidae): A trial under factory conditions

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Pesticide Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University

2 Date Palm Research Center of Excellence, King Faisal University, Al-Hassa 31982, P.O. Box 400, Saudi Arabia

3 National Dates Factory, Al-Hassa, Minster of Agriculture, Saudi Arabia

10.21608/jpces.2017.459309

Abstract

Date moth, Ephestia cautella (Walker), is a major worldwide pest of dates and other stored products. Aluminum Phosphide(AlP) is used extensively as a fumigant for stored products. However, AlP has the disadvantage of requiring longer fumigation times which are not acceptable for date processing in date factories. Accordingly, anaccelerating reaction of chemical hydrolysis was conducted by adding H2O to AlP as a proton donor at a ratio of approximately 1:1 to generate phosphine gas. Application of AlP against E. cautella under accelerated conditions in the fumigation chambers of the national date factory showed dramatic effect against tested stages (adults, larvae and eggs). Percent adult mortality reached 10%, 96.7% and 100% after  exposure periods 1, 2, and 4 h at a concentration of 6 g AlP/m
, with  LT99 at 126 min.  Under the same conditions, larval  mortality was 16.7%, 96.7% and 100%, with LT99 at 129 min.
No eggs treated with AlP for 12 h hatched.  In addition, the data showed that treatment under accelerated conditions left  no detectable residues in treated dates, using spectroscopy analysis. 

Keywords

Journal of Pest Control and Environmental Sciences
Volume 22, Issue 1
2017
Pages 28-36

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