Evaluation of different temperature management strategies for suppression of Sitophilus zeamais (Motschulsky) in stored maize

Abstract Three years of experimental trials (2001–2003) were conducted in 12.7 t capacity pilot-scale bins to determine the survival, reproduction and suppression of Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky under three temperature management strategies, no aeration (NA, control), ambient aeration (AA, ⩽23.9 °C), and chilled aeration (CA, ⩽18.3 °C) from May to November in Indiana, USA. One-way ANOVA indicated that the number of progeny for small adult populations of caged insects (0.14–0.28 insects per gram maize) embedded 0.6 m deep in the stored grain mass varied among temperature strategies for some, but not all of the storage periods. Progeny numbers in the CA strategy were significantly lower ( P S. zeamai s under the NA strategy caused by factors in the caged insect microclimate (e.g., rapid food depletion, heating, moisture, molding, and high CO 2 levels). Our results suggest that maintaining stored maize at temperatures ⩽15.0 °C for longer periods suppressed S. zeamais progeny more effectively than at ⩽18.3 °C. In addition, leaving the stored grain bulk unaerated early in the spring so it remained cool at ⩽15.0 °C due to winter aeration resulted in early suppression of S. zeamais progeny.

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