Journal of Economic Entomology (2013) 106, 2035-2042

Peter A. Follett and Kirsten Snook (2013)
Cold storage enhances the efficacy and margin of security in postharvest irradiation treatments against fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae)
Journal of Economic Entomology 106 (5), 2035-2042
Abstract: Cold storage is used to preserve fruit quality after harvest during transportation in marketing channels. Low temperature can be a stressor for insects that reduces survivorship, and cold storage may contribute to the efficacy of postharvest quarantine treatments such as irradiation against quarantine insect pests. The combined effect of irradiation and cold storage was examined in a radiation-tolerant fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillet (melon fly), and a radiation-intolerant fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Mediterranean fruit fly) (Diptera: Tephritidae). Third instars on diet or in papaya were treated with a sublethal radiation dose of 30 Gy and stored at 4 or 11°C for 3-13 d and held for adult emergence. For both fruit fly species, survival of third instars to the adult stage generally decreased with increasing cold storage duration at 4 or 11°C in diet or papaya. Survivorship differences were highly significant for the effects of substrate (diet > papaya), temperature (11 > 4°C), and irradiation (0 > 30 Gy). Few Mediterranean fruitflies survived in any cold storage treatment after receiving a radiation dose of 30 Gy. No melon fly larvae survived to the adult stage after irradiation and 11d cold storage at 4 or 11°C in papayas. Cold storage enhances the efficacy and widens the margin of security in postharvest irradiation treatments. Potentially irradiation and cold storage can be used in combination to reduce the irradiation exposure requirements of quarantine treatments.
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Database assignments for author(s): Peter A. Follett

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
control - general
quarantine treatments/regulations/aspects

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Ceratitis capitata	Papaya (Carica papaya)
	Zeugodacus cucurbitae	Papaya (Carica papaya)