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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Parlier, California » San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center » Commodity Protection and Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #313575
Title: Optimizing postharvest methyl bromide treatments to control spotted wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, in sweet cherries from Western USA

Author
item Walse, Spencer
item JIMENEZ, LEONEL - University Of California
item Hall Iv, Wiley
item Tebbets, John
item Obenland, David - Dave

Submitted to: Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/30/2015
Publication Date: 1/26/2016
Citation: Walse, S.S., Jimenez, L.R., Hall IV, W.A., Tebbets, J.S., Obenland, D.M. 2016. Optimizing postharvest methyl bromide treatments to control spotted wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, in sweet cherries from Western USA. Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology. 19(1):223-232.

Interpretive Summary: Spotted wing drosophila has impacted the export of key fruit crops from the United States. Several importing countries regulate spotted wing drosophila as a quarantine pest and require the postharvest treatment (e.g., fumigation, radiation, heat, cold, etc.) of potential fresh fruit hosts prior to importation from Western USA. This work addresses the need to develop a postharvest methyl bromide fumigation treatment to control this pest in sweet cherry exports. This work describes the fumigation parameters required for control and was provided to trade partners to demonstrate that a properly conducted fumigation mitigates the threat associated with the importation of sweet cherries potentially infested with spotted wing drosophila.

Technical Abstract: Methyl bromide (MB) chamber fumigations were evaluated for postharvest control of spotted wing drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae), in fresh sweet cherry exports from Western USA. Sweet cherries were infested with SWD, incubated to maximize numbers of the most MB-tolerant specimens (ca. 60 to 108-h old at fumigation, 88% 3rd & 2nd instars), buried amongst uninfested fruit in bins consistent with commercial practice, cooled to an average pulp temperature = 8.3 C, and then fumigated in a chamber. Treatment efficacy was diagnosed by the percentage of survivors emerging as adults from fumigated cherries relative to that from non-fumigated control cherries. A kinetic model of sorption was developed based on the measurement of MB and how calculated exposures varied across the fumigation trials. The model describes how to manipulate the applied MB dose, fumigation duration, and the load factor so that the resultant exposure is adequate for SWD control across various pulp temperatures when cherries are fumigated in wooden versus plastic bins. Results are discussed in the context of graduation toward optimized quarantine fumigation schedules for control of SWD, which will promote more strategic technical and economic Quarantine Pre-shipment (QPS) use of MB.