Forced hot-air as a quarantine treatment against Anastrepha suspensa
Studies were carried out in Florida (US) on the efficacy of forced hot-air as a quarantine treatment against third instars of Anastrepha suspensa (EPPO A1 quarantine pest) in navel orange (Citrus sinensis). A hot-air treatment with 48±0.3 °C was studied at different durations. It was found that to obtain the quarantine security, a duration of 108.6 min with a final mean temperature in the centre of the fruit ; 44 °C was necessary. In a large scale experiment with 113,676 larvae in 1200 manually infested oranges, no larvae survived after a treatment of ;48±0.3 °C (0.75 m3 air flow) until the centre fruit temperatures gwere ; 44 °C. Such a treatment required a duration of 100.2±3 min, when initial centre temperatures of the fruits were 23.2±0.4 °C. The authors proposed that a hot-air treatment at 48±0.3 °C during 105 min could be a suitable quarantine treatment and could offer a good alternative to other treatments (cold storage, vapour heat and methyl bromide fumigation). In addition, they have observed that such treatment followed by a month storage at 5°C had no significant consequences on the fruit quality.
Sources
Sharp, J.L.; McGuire, R.G. (1996) Control of Caribbean fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) in navel orange by forced hot air.
Journal of Economic Entomology, 89(5), 1181-1185.