Insect control

Agricultural Research Service entomologists are learning new things about stored insect control in a five-year study with Kansas and Oklahoma elevator managers. The research focuses on how day-to-day management practices affect the cost and effectiveness of insect control. It will evaluate procedures that might be useful in an integrated pest management (IPM) system for wheat storage. The target insects — lesser grain borers, rice weevils, red flour beetle and rusty grain beetle — cause about $500 million in annual losses.

Researchers have compared more than 20,000 grain samples taken from 30 million bushels of wheat stored at 30 country elevators. Three 1-gal. samples are taken from every 1,000 bu.-5 to 50 times larger than commonly used sampling rates. They found that most wheat trucked to the elevators is relatively free of insects.

The entomologists have identified three ways to improve IPM:

• Cool grain earlier in the season, particularly right after it enters the bin, rather than waiting until fall. Early aeration costs less than fumigation.

• Clean empty bins more thoroughly.

• Fumigate stored grain only when insect populations reach unacceptable levels. This lowers the chance of killing parasitoid wasps that feed on the larvae of harmful grain storage insects and reduces worker exposure to fumigants. A computer program, Stored Grain Advisor, available at http://bru.usgmrl.ksu.edu/flinn/sga, helps predict damaging levels.
  Source: Agricultural Research Magazine

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