Long-lasting insecticide-incorporated netting and interception traps at pilot-scale warehouses and commercial facilities prevent infestation by stored product beetles

Authors: WILKINS, RACHEL - Kansas State University; Campbell, James - Jim; ZHU, KUN - Kansas State University; STARKUS, LAURA - Arkansas State University; MCKAY, TANJA - Arkansas State University; Morrison, William - Rob

Submitted to: Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/3/2020
Publication Date: 1/12/2021
Citation: Wilkins, R.V., Campbell, J.F., Zhu, K.Y., Starkus, L., McKay, T., Morrison III, W.R. 2021. Long-lasting insecticide-incorporated netting and interception traps at pilot-scale warehouses and commercial facilities prevent infestation by stored product beetles. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. 4:561820. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.561820.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.561820

Interpretive Summary: Facilities where food is processed and stored are under constant threat from immigrating stored product insects from the surrounding landscape. Insects can find entry into food facilities through vents, gaps around doors, windows, eaves, and other openings, and a major part of an integrated pest management program is to reduce the number of insects entering a facility. This is challenging because of the small size of stored product insects. In this study, we demonstrated under simulated field conditions the effectiveness of using insecticide incorporated netting to reduce the movement of stored product insects and reduce product infestation. Insecticide netting reduced pest dispersal to commodities by 89-93% in pilot-scale warehouses while also decreasing successful colonization of food products by 98-100% relative to controls without insecticide netting. In field testing of food- and pheromone-baited interception traps covered with insecticide incorporated netting in Kansas and Arkansas, traps were found to be highly attractive (capturing over 4,000 insects from 14 groups), while the insecticide netting was not found to hinder capture of insects, but was successfully able to kill dispersing individuals and their offspring compared to control netting. Overall, our study strongly suggests that insecticide netting and interception traps may be effective new IPM tactics that can be included as an innovative new component in management of the post-harvest agricultural supply chain.

Technical Abstract: At any point along the post-harvest supply chain, commodities are vulnerable to insect infestation. This is due to a variety of factors, but includes landscape-scale movement of stored product insects to and from food facilities and natural refugia. One innovative tactic to intercept immigrating insects may be to use long-lasting insecticide-incorporated netting (LLIN) to cover gaps in architecture (e.g. vents, windows, eaves, or over pallets of goods) at food facilities and as a kill mechanism in attract-and-kill inspired interception traps on the perimeter of facilities to create multiple protective barriers to reduce infestation in commodities. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to 1) examine the ability of interception traps to capture stored product insects at commercial wheat and rice food facilities, 2) assess whether LLIN deployment method affected efficacy in preventing infestation by stored product insects in pilot-scale warehouses, and 3) determine the success of using LLIN alone, interception traps alone, or both together to prevent infestations. Over two years, interception traps deployed for 48-h periods on the perimeter of commercial food facilities captured over 3,000 insects, representing 14 stored product taxa. Warehouses deploying LLIN exhibited an 89–93% and 98–100% reduction in insects reaching and progeny production in commodities, even after the release of 3,600 insects from three species over 12 weeks. The combined use of LLIN and interception traps did not improve control above LLIN alone, but this may be because insects could fly unencumbered, highlighting the importance of covering gaps with LLIN on food facilities.