scholarly journals Evaluation of a Greek Diatomaceous Earth for Stored Product Insect Control and Techniques That Maximize Its Insecticidal Efficacy

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (18) ◽  
pp. 6441
Author(s):  
Georgia V. Baliota ◽  
Christos G. Athanassiou

Laboratory bioassays were conducted to evaluate the insecticidal efficacy of a diatomaceous earth deposit from Greece, for a wide range of stored product insects. In this context, populations of five different insect species, Tribolium confusum Jacquelin DuVal, the confused flour beetle; Sitophilus oryzae (L.), the rice weevil; Rhyzopertha dominica (F.), the lesser grain borer; Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.), the sawtoothed grain beetle; Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Stephens), the rusty grain beetle, which cover a major spectrum of insects species of stored products worldwide, were used in the bioassays. The different treatment of diatomaceous earth (DE) rocks (grinding, diatomaceous enrichment, powder granulometry) led to the creation of five types of formulations (namely DE1, DE2, DE3, DE5 and DE6) that exhibited significant fluctuations in their insecticidal efficacy when applied on wheat. In general, some of the modified formulations were found to be very effective against species such as R. dominica and T. confusum that may be difficult to control at the current labeled doses of commercial DE formulations. Overall, our data clearly indicate that this specific Greek deposit has considerable insecticidal properties, which can be further utilized in designing commercial formulations for insect control at the postharvest stages of durable agricultural commodities, provided that the deposit will be modified at specific enrichment and granulometry levels.

2014 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasaman Shafighi ◽  
Masumeh Ziaee ◽  
Yobert Ghosta

Abstract Laboratory bioassays were conducted to assess the insecticidal efficacy of the formulation SilicoSec® used alone or in combination with isolates of entomopathogenic fungi, Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschinkoff) Sorokin and Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin. SilicoSec® is a commercial diatomaceous earth (DE) formulation. Wheat was treated with 200 mg/kg of DE, 400 mg/kg of each isolates alone or a combination of them, against Tribolium castaneum Herbst, Rhyzopertha dominica (F.), and Oryzaephilus surinamensis L. The experiments were carried out at 27±1°C and 65±5% relative humidity (RH) in continuous darkness. The pathogenicity of all isolates was significantly low even after 7 days of exposure, with the exception of R. dominica. The isolates were virulent to the beetles, but the efficacy of the isolates was enhanced in combination with the DE. Tribolium castaneum was the most resistant species, followed by R. dominica. The findings indicated that the addition of the DE to the isolates increased the pathogenicity especially at the highest exposure interval. The addition of DE may provide satisfactory control of the insect-pests of stored products.


Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank H. Arthur ◽  
Christos G. Athanassiou ◽  
W. Robert Morrison

Adults of Rhyzopertha dominica (F.), the lesser grain borer, Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Stephens), the rusty grain beetle, and Sitophilus oryzae (L.), the rice weevil, were exposed for 1, 24, and 72 h on wheat treated with concentrations of 0% (untreated controls) to 100% of the proposed label rate of an experimental formulation of deltamethrin + Methoprene + piperonyl butoxide synergist. Movement and velocity of movement were assessed after each exposure time using a camera-based monitoring system (Ethovision®). Movement of R. dominica decreased with increasing concentration and exposure time, so that movement had virtually ceased at the 48 and 72 h exposures. Cryptolestes ferrugineus was less susceptible compared to R. dominica, but there was still a general pattern of decreased movement and velocity of movement with increasing concentration and exposure time. Sitophilus oryzae was the least susceptible species, with less differences at the 1 h exposure interval compared to the other two species, but after 24–72 h, the patterns of declining movement and velocity were apparent as the concentration increased. Data were analyzed using curve-fit equations to show the relationship between concentration and exposure time for each species. Results show that the Ethovison system can be used to assess the sub-lethal effects of exposure to grain protectant insecticides and elucidate behavioral variation between different stored product insects.


Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Paponja ◽  
Vlatka Rozman ◽  
Anita Liška

Diatomaceous earth (DE) has long been known as a potential protectant for stored cereals against various stored product insects. Despite favorable effect for the environment and human health, DE has some negative side effects on the treated commodity. In order to minimize negative response and to improve its efficacy, this paper represents a study of developed natural formulation based on DE SilicoSec® enhanced with botanicals (essential oil lavender, corn oil, and bay leaves dust) and silica gel. The activity of formulation (labeled as N Form) was tested against Sitophilus oryzae (L.), Rhyzopertha dominica (F.), and Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) in seed wheat and barley under controlled conditions. As a reference comparative value, DE SilicoSec® was used. N Form showed higher efficacy than DE, especially in barley at the lowest concentration, inducing higher mortality of all three insect species. The highest average progeny inhibition was recorded in R. dominica population both in seed wheat and barley with 94.9% and 96.3% of inhibition, respectively, followed with S. oryzae and T. castaneum inhibition of 90.6% and 86.1%, respectively, in wheat and 94.9% and 89.7%, respectively, in barley. Results indicate that the developed natural formulation N Form enhanced the activity of DE SilicoSec® using lower amount of DE dust and that it could be successfully implemented for storage of cereals as alternatives to chemical pesticides for stored product insect control.


1987 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 309 ◽  
Author(s):  
JM Desmarchelier ◽  
JC Dines

The efficacy of Dryacide (diatomaceous earth coated with silica aerogels) on wheat was tested in the laboratory against adult and immature stages of 4 species of Coleoptera and against immature stages of 1 species of Lepidoptera. The minimum effective level of Dryacide increased in the following order: immature Ephestia cautella (Walker) ~ immature Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) < immature Rhyzopertha dominica (F) < adult R. dominica ~ adult T. castaneum < adult Sitophilus oryzae (L) < adult Sitophilus granarius (L) < immature Sitophilus species. When wheat treated with Dryacide was milled in the laboratory without prior cleaning, less than 3% of the Dryacide carried over into the flour. Commercial cleaning of wheat removed (�s.e.) about 98 � 1% of Dryacide, and no Dryacide could be detected in the flour. Dryacide treatment did not affect flour quality as determined by the volume of sponge cakes and the production of carbon dioxide by fermenting dough.


2008 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christos G. Athanassiou ◽  
Nickolas G. Kavallieratos ◽  
Basileios J. Vayias ◽  
Vassiliki K. Stephou

2008 ◽  
Vol 101 (3) ◽  
pp. 976-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christos G. Athanassiou ◽  
Nickolas G. Kavallieratos ◽  
George J. Chintzoglou ◽  
Gerassimos G. Peteinatos ◽  
Maria C. Boukouvala ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Yacoub Ahmad Batta

The present research is aimed at a formulation of the entomopathogenic fungi, Beauveria bassiana (Bal.) Vuillemin and Metarhizium anisopliae (Metch.) Sorokin, in two types of diatomaceous earth dusts, fossil shield and Silico-Sec, are then applied against the adults of three species of stored-grain insects: Sitophilus oryzae L., Rhyzopertha dominica Fab. and Tribolium castaneum Herbs. Effect of the treatment was assessed by comparing the mortality percentage of the adults of the three insect species exposed to the formulated fungi with that of the adults exposed to the unformulated fungi or the diatomaceous earth dusts or the undisturbed control. Results obtained from these exposures have indicated that treatment of the adults with the formulated fungi resulted in a significantly higher mean mortality percentage compared to the treatment with the unformulated fungi or the diatomaceous earth dusts or the undisturbed control. A synergistic interaction between the effect of fungal species and the diatomaceous earth dusts was shown. Viability of conidia of both fungal species in diatomaceous earth dusts was assessed by calculating the germination percentage of the conidia over time. Results indicated a small loss of mean germination percentage for formulated conidia of both fungal species versus a high loss of mean germination percentage for the unformulated conidia, thus the diatomaceous earth dusts used in the formulation of both fungi demonstrated a negligible effect on the viability of formulated conidia compared to the unformulated.


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