Bale compression and hydrogen phosphide fumigation to control cereal leaf beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in...

Control of larvae and adults of cereal leaf beetle, Oulema melanopus (L.), by bale compression and hydrogen phosphide fumigation was studied in rye straw, Secale cereale L., in Aurora, OR. Natural mortality of larvae after transport was 4.0 +/- 1.0% (mean +/- SEM). Compression (105 kg/cm2) of larvae in standard bales (122 cm long) of rye straw resulted in 100% mortality. Compression of adults in standard bales plus storage of the compressed bales (56 cm long) for 1 d in a freight container resulted in 100% mortality. A KD50 of 102 ppm hydrogen phosphide for 1 h was estimated from the probit regression line developed from dose-response data at 21 degrees C in basic laboratory tests. The LD50s and LD99s were 163 and 6,910 ppm for 2-h exposures and were 18 and 42 ppm for 6-h exposures at 21 degrees C, respectively. A tested close of 400 ppm for 24 h at 21 degrees C resulted in 100% mortality of the adults. Larvae (n = 10,560) and adults (n = 18,602) did not survive exposure to bale compression followed by hydrogen phosphide fumigation (60 g/28.3 m3) for 3 d in rye straw loaded in freight containers in large-scale tests. Copper plate corrosion values indicating the severity of exposure to hydrogen phosphide were 13 and 12, and mean temperatures of five locations in the freight container were 25 and 26 degrees C in large-scale tests with the larvae and adults, respectively. Hydrogen phosphide concentrations were > or = 400 ppm throughout the 3-d fumigation for larvae and during the first day of fumigation for adults. We propose that cereal leaf beetle can be controlled by a single treatment of bale compression followed by a 1-d storage period or by a fumigation in which 400 ppm hydrogen phosphide is maintained for 1 d at 21 degrees C or above. We confirmed that a multiple quarantine treatment of bale compression) followed by a 3-d fumigation will control cereal leafbeetle in exported rye straw.