by
Dr Manjree Agarwal, Murdoch University, Western Australia
The grain industry worldwide is highly dependant on fumigants for controlling stored grain pests, which cause about 15-20 percent of losses every year.
The most commonly used fumigants are phosphine and methyl bromide, of which methyl bromide has been phased out after the Montreal protocol (a 1987 agreement to limit the use of ozone-depleting gases), and excessive usage of phosphine has resulted in a resistance problem with many stored grain pest species.
There is, therefore, a problem with currently used fumigants: there is no ideal fumigant as many are flammable and have high mammalian toxicity, and the choice of possible new fumigants for grain is very restricted. Even if an alternative fumigant were selected, the lengthy, time-consuming testing and registration procedures would present a formidable barrier to its adoption and usage.
Hence, there is an urgent need for a non-chemical method for effective, safe, and cheap control of stored grain pests, which does not have any registration requirements. Modified Atmosphere (MA) or Controlled Atmosphere (CA) is one of the answers to this problem.
MA involves the alteration of natural gases used in storage, such as carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen, to create a lethal condition for pests. This has been practiced for centuries and has been promoted in recent years as a biorational substitute for chemical fumigants. Sometimes, in the use of controlled atmospheres, the cost of the gas may be a hindrance to adoption.
Carbon dioxide has been used as a viable alternative to phosphine for the control of insects attacking stored products; but CO2 is efficient only when concentrations higher than 40 percent are maintained for long periods, and so, in the long run, it becomes an expensive affair.
In that respect, N2 (nitrogen) for use in low O2 (oxygen) treatments is less expensive and can be generated from ambient air (which has close to 80 percent concentration of nitrogen), via use of membrane-adsorption technology.
Replacing oxygen with nitrogen not only helps in killing some of the stored grain pests but is also cheap, safe to both humans and the environment, with no registration requirement. It also maintains the natural quality of grain and pulses, including the colour, which is one of the important attributes for pulses and beans. This creates a win-win situation in all different scenar
Read more HERE.
The grain industry worldwide is highly dependant on fumigants for controlling stored grain pests, which cause about 15-20 percent of losses every year.
The most commonly used fumigants are phosphine and methyl bromide, of which methyl bromide has been phased out after the Montreal protocol (a 1987 agreement to limit the use of ozone-depleting gases), and excessive usage of phosphine has resulted in a resistance problem with many stored grain pest species.
There is, therefore, a problem with currently used fumigants: there is no ideal fumigant as many are flammable and have high mammalian toxicity, and the choice of possible new fumigants for grain is very restricted. Even if an alternative fumigant were selected, the lengthy, time-consuming testing and registration procedures would present a formidable barrier to its adoption and usage.
Hence, there is an urgent need for a non-chemical method for effective, safe, and cheap control of stored grain pests, which does not have any registration requirements. Modified Atmosphere (MA) or Controlled Atmosphere (CA) is one of the answers to this problem.
MA involves the alteration of natural gases used in storage, such as carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen, to create a lethal condition for pests. This has been practiced for centuries and has been promoted in recent years as a biorational substitute for chemical fumigants. Sometimes, in the use of controlled atmospheres, the cost of the gas may be a hindrance to adoption.
Carbon dioxide has been used as a viable alternative to phosphine for the control of insects attacking stored products; but CO2 is efficient only when concentrations higher than 40 percent are maintained for long periods, and so, in the long run, it becomes an expensive affair.
In that respect, N2 (nitrogen) for use in low O2 (oxygen) treatments is less expensive and can be generated from ambient air (which has close to 80 percent concentration of nitrogen), via use of membrane-adsorption technology.
Replacing oxygen with nitrogen not only helps in killing some of the stored grain pests but is also cheap, safe to both humans and the environment, with no registration requirement. It also maintains the natural quality of grain and pulses, including the colour, which is one of the important attributes for pulses and beans. This creates a win-win situation in all different scenar
Read more HERE.
The Global Miller
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which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.
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