engleski

Ozone as a post-harvest treatment for stored grain

Grain foods are the most important staple foods throughout the world. Meeting the food needs of a growing population remains a global problem, especially considering that losses can be as high as 30% due to pest infestation and inadequate facilities. Storage facilities such as silos or containers are a perfect environment for pests to develop. It is becoming increasingly difficult to control pests in stored products due to fewer products available on the market, environmental and safety concerns, developing resistance to pesticides, and cryptic insect behavior. Ozone, a highly reactive and a strong oxidizing agent, has demonstrated its effectiveness against a wide range of pests. The objective of the study was to determine: i) the effect of ozone on insect mortality, mobility, and velocity ; ii) the correlation between mortality and time elapsed after ozone treatment. The efficacy of ozone was tested on Sitophilus granarius, Tenebrio molitor and Blatta lateralis. The efficacies of all variants were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) to determine the difference in the effect of ozone on insects at different exposure times. ANOVA was performed on insect velocity and mobility data to determine the effect of ozone on the above parameters. Ozonation showed 85-100% efficacy with inhibitory effect on insect mobility and speed. The efficiency of ozone treatment (mortality) increases with increasing ozone duration. Ozone has a harmful effect on storage pests and could be used for pest management, primarily for post-harvest treatment of stored grain, either alone or as an adjunct to other methods.

Mealworm, Ozone, Post-harvest treatment, Turkestan cockroach, Wheat weevil

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