Spinosad is a reduced-risk insecticide derived by fermentation from the soil actinomycete, Saccharopolyspora spinosa Mertz & Yao. Spinosad is currently registered in several countries as a grain protectant at a maximum labeled use rate of 1 ppm (1 mg a.i./kg of grain) and with the Maximum Residue Level (MRL) or tolerance on grains set at 1 or 1.5 ppm. Global launch of spinosad as a grain protectant is expected in the near future, pending final acceptance of international residue tolerances for spinosad by major grain importing and exporting countries. Spinosad effectively controls economically important beetle and moth pests associated with stored grain and is also effective against certain psocid species. Spinosad provides grain protection through control of adult and/or immature life stages of pest insects. The pest spectrum of spinosad under commercial grain storage conditions is still being defined, but it is clear from available laboratory and field evaluations on various grains that the lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica (F.); larger grain borer, Prostephanus truncatus (Horn); rusty grain beetle. Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Stephens); flat grain beetle, Cry ptolestes pusillus (Schonherr); red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst); confused flour beetle. Tribolium confusum Jacquelin du Val; Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hubner); rice moth, Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton); Angoumois grain moth, Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier); almond moth. Cadra cautella Walker; and the psocid species Lepinotus reticulatus Enderlein and Liposcelis entomophila (Enderlein) are susceptible to spinosad and complete control is to be expected. Other pest species such as the maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais Motchulsky; rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (L); and sawtoothed grain beetle, Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L) are susceptible to spinosad to varying degrees, but their overall level of control remains to be verified under commercial grain storage conditions. Spinosad residues are highly stable on grains stored in bins, with a length of protection ranging from 6 months to 2 years. Numerous factors have been shown to impact the overall performance of spinosad, including insect pest species, pest life stage, grain type, grain variety, and formulation type. Spinosad possesses a unique mode of action in insects and controls insect strains resistant to other grain protectants. When launched globally, spinosad will represent a valuable new addition to the limited arsenal of grain protectants and can positively impact global food security. Its combination of high efficacy, broad insect pest spectrum, low mammalian toxicity, and sound environmental profile is unique among existing products currently used for stored-grain protection. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Boot areas in commercial grain elevators and feed mills contribute to commingling of insects with grain that moves through the elevator leg. A partial budget and stochastic dominance model were developed to improve pest management decision-making and risk analysis assessment from commingling effects of insect activity in the boot area. Modified pilot-scale bucket elevator legs, containing residual wheat or corn, were infested with varying insect pest densities prior to clean grain transfers. Appropriate grain discounts were applied to grain samples obtained from clean grain transfers over either: 1) insect-free and untreated boots, 2) infested and untreated boots, or 3) infested and chemical-treated (beta-cyfluthrin) boots. The insect-free boots simulated performing clean-out of the boot area. Partial budget analysis and stochastic dominance modeling indicated that boot sanitation (cleanout) about every 30d, avoiding costly grain discounts from insect commingling, is the preferred choice. Although chemical spray treatments of the empty boot may reduce insect populations of some boot residual grains, boot cleanout always had lower and usually zero insect pest populations in the boot residual grain, providing higher facility operational net income without the use of chemicals. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America 2015. This work is written by US Government employees and is in the public domain in the US.

A total of 154 enterococcal isolates from 95 stored-product insects collected from a feed mill, a grain storage silo, and a retail store were isolated and identified to the species level using PCR. Enterococcus casseliflavus represented 51% of the total isolates, followed by Enterococcus gallinarum (24%), Enterococcus faecium (14%), Enterococcus faecalis (7%), and Enterococcus hirae (5%). Many isolates were resistant to tetracycline (48%), followed by streptomycin (21%), erythromycin (14%), kanamycin (13%), ciprofloxacin (12%), ampicillin (4%), and chloramphenicol (< 1%). Enterococci carried genes coding for virulence factors, including the gelatinase gene gelE (26% of isolates), an enterococcal surface protein gene esp (1%), and the cytolysin gene cylA (2%). An aggregation substance (asa1) gene was detected in six out of 10 E. faecalis isolates and five of these were positive for the aggregation substance. Enterococci were positive for hemolytic (57% of isolates) and gelatinolytic (23%) activity. The filter-mating assay showed that the tetracycline resistance gene, tetM, was transferable among E. faecalis by conjugation. These data demonstrated that stored-product insects can serve as potential vectors in disseminating antibiotic-resistant and potentially virulent enterococci.

In January 2005, the United States Environmental Protection Agency registered spinosad as a stored grain protectant. No referenced data on the efficacy of spinosad on corn in suppressing major stored-grain insects have been published. In this paper, we evaluated the efficacy of spinosad against seven major stored-grain insects on shelled corn in the laboratory. Insect species tested were the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Jacquelin duVal); rusty grain beetle, Cryptolestesferrugineus (Stephens); lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica (F.); sawtoothed grain beetle, Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.); rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (L.); maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais (Motschulsky); and Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hubner). Corn kernels were treated with spinosad at 0, 0.1, 0.5, 1, and 2 active ingredient (a.i.) mg/kg for controlling the seven species. Beetle adults or P. interpunctella eggs were introduced into each container holding 100 g of untreated or insecticide-treated corn. The seven insect species survived well on the control treatment, produced 28 to 336 progeny, and caused significant kernel damage after 49 days. On spinosad-treated corn, adult mortality of C. ferrugineus, R. dominica, O. surinamensis, S. oryzae, and S. zeamais was > 98% at 1 and 2 mg/kg after 12 days. Spinosad at > 0.5 mg/kg completely suppressed egg-to-larval survival after 21 days and egg-to-adult emergence of P. interpunctella after 49 days, whereas 16% T. castaneum adults survived at 1 mg/kg after 12 days. Spinosad at 1 or 2 mg/kg provided complete or near complete suppression of progeny production and kernel damage of all species after 49 days. Our results indicate that spinosad at the current labeled rate of 1 mg/kg is effective against the seven stored-grain insect pests on corn.

The efficacy of partial treatment of wheat with spinosad against adults of the lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica, was evaluated by mixing spinosad-treated and untreated wheat kernels in varying proportions. Spinosad was applied to wheat kernels either by dipping in 1 mg (a.i.) ml(-1) spinosad solution for 1 min or admixed with dry and liquid spinsoad formulations at 0.1 and the labeled rate of 1 mg (a.i.) kg(-1) of wheat. In the kernel dipping method, the percentage of kernels treated was increased from 10 to 100 in 10% increments, while keeping the total number of kernels at either 10 or 100. The mortality of introduced adults in independent samples was observed over time at 1-209 h post-infestation. In the admixture method, the percentage of spinosad-treated wheat ranged from 10 to 100 in 10% increments by varying amounts of spinosad-treated and untreated wheat to form a total of 50 g. Mortality of introduced R. dominica adults was determined after 1, 3, 5, and 7 d. In the kernel dipping method, there was an inverse relationship between lethal times for 50 and 95% mortality of R. dominica adults and percentage of kernels treated. In the admixture method, adult mortality increased with an increase in spinosad rate, exposure time, and percentage of kernels treated. The liquid formulation was more effective against R. dominica than the dry formulation. At the labeled rate of 1 mg (a.i.) kg(-1), treating 20-90% of the kernels with liquid or dry formulation of spinosad was as good as treating 100% of the kernels in controlling R. dominica adults within 3-5 d. In practical situations where uneven distribution of spinosad on kernels is expected, complete control of R. dominica adults can be achieved if more than 50% of the kernels receive spinosad treatment. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Commercial food- and pheromone-baited pitfall traps and pheromone-baited sticky traps were used during 2003 to survey stored-product insect adults in eight participating feed mills in the midwestern United States. Across the eight feed mills, 27 species of beetles (Coleoptera) and three species of moths (Lepidoptera) were captured in commercial traps. The red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), was the most abundant insect species captured inside the eight mills. The warehouse beetle, Trogoderma variabile (Ballion), was the most abundant insect species outside the mill and in the mill load-out area. The Indianmeal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Habner), was the most abundant moth species inside the mill and in the mill receiving area. The Simpson's index of species diversity among mills ranged from 0.39 (low diversity) to 0.81 (high diversity). The types of species found among mills were different, as indicated by a Morisita's index of < 0.7, for the majority of mills. The differences in the types and numbers of insect species captured inside, outside, in receiving, and in load-out areas could be related to differences in the types of animal feeds produced and the degree of sanitation and pest management practiced.

Three commercial ultrasonic devices (A, B, and C) were tested for their ability to repel the German cockroach, Blattella germanica (L.) (Blattodea: Blattellidae), in Plexiglas (R) enclosures. Device A generated peak frequencies at 26 kHz and 34 kHz, and produced a 95 +/- 1 dB sound pressure level (SPL) at 50 cm distance (0 dB = 20 log(10)[ 20 mu Pa/20 mu Pa]). Device B generated peak frequencies at 27 kHz and 35 kHz, and produced a 92 +/- 4 dB SPL. Device C generated a wide range of frequencies between 28-42 kHz and produced an 88 +/- 2 dB SPL. Ultrasound from any of the three devices did not demonstrate sufficient repelling ability against the German cockroach in the tests. The result failed to provide evidence that ultrasonic technology could be used as an effective pest management tool to repel or eliminate the German cockroach.

Structural heat treatment, a viable alternative to methyl bromide fumigation, involves raising the ambient temperature of food-processing facilities between 50 and 60 degrees C by using gas, electric, or steam heaters, and holding these elevated temperatures for 24 h or longer to kill stored-product insects. A dynamic model was developed to predict survival of mature larvae, which is the most heat-tolerant stage of the confused flour beetle, Tribolium confusum (Jacquelin du Val), at elevated temperatures between 46 and 60 degrees C. The model is based on two nonlinear relationships: 1) logarithmic survival of T. confusum mature larvae as a function of time, and 2) logarithmic reduction in larval survival as a function of temperature. The dynamic model was validated with nine independent data sets collected during actual facility heat treatments conducted on two separate occasions at the Kansas State University pilot flour and feed mills. The rate of increase of temperature over time varied among the nine locations where mature larvae of T. confusum were exposed, and the approximate heating rates during the entire heat treatment ranged from 1.1 to 13.2 degrees C/h. The absolute deviation in the predicted number of larvae surviving the heat treatment was within 3-7% of the actual observed data. Comparison of the absolute deviation in the time taken for equivalent larval survival showed that the model predictions were within 2-6% of the observed data. The dynamic model can be used to predict survival of mature larvae of T. confusum during heat treatments of food-processing facilities based on time-dependent temperature profiles obtained at any given location.

Thered flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), is the most important stored-product insect pest infesting rice (Oryza sativa L.) mills in the United States. Due to the phasing out of methyl bromide in accordance with the 1987 Montreal Protocol, the efficacy of alternative fumigants in controlling flour beetles in mill structures must be evaluated. Long-term trapping data sets (2-6 yr) of T. castaneum in and around seven rice mills were analyzed to assess the efficacy of sulfuryl fluoride fumigation (n = 25). Fumigation efficacy was evaluated as the percentage reduction in mean trap captures of adults and proportion of traps capturing at least one adult beetle. Beetle trap captures fluctuated seasonally, with increased captures during the warmer months, June-September, that dropped off during the cooler months, October-March. Fumigations resulted in a 66 +/- 6% (mean +/- SE) reduction in mean trap captures within mills and a 52 +/- 6% reduction in the proportion of traps capturing at least one adult beetle. Lengths of time for captures to reach prefumigation levels, or rebound rates, were variable, and adult capture levels inside were most influenced by seasonal temperature changes. Temperatures inside mills followed those outside the mill closely, and a significant positive relationship between outside temperatures and trap captures was observed. Inside and outside trap captures exhibited a significant, positive relationship, but fumigations consistently led to reductions in beetle captures outside of mills, highlighting the interconnectedness of populations located inside and outside mill structures.