Development of novel green pesticide system by using cold plasma to control Plodia interpunctella in pistachio

Abstract

One of pistachio export challenges is the damage of pistachio by warehouse pests (Mozaffari Nejad, 2011). One of the essential warehouse pests of pistachio is Plodia interpunctella (Hubner, 1813), which causes a lot of damage to this valuable product in pistachio storage (Ling et al., 2016).Warehouse pests are among the most critical problems in storing agricultural products that cause severe damage to crops after harvest until consumption in storage. The Indian meal moth (P. interpunctella) is a pest that is prevalent worldwide in stockpiles of dates, pistachios, and almonds. This insect is one of the vital storage pests on various fruits, grains, and seeds, and its damage has been reported from about 83 types of food (Mohandass et al., 2007;Vukajlović et al., 2019). The Indian meal moth contamination can cause direct crop loss and indirect economic costs through pest control costs, quality loss, and consumer complaints (Mohandass et al., 2007). ‫‬ Today, with the primary goal of providing food for the world's growing population, there are several methods for controlling warehouse pests that have irreversible effects on humans and the environment (Morrison et al., 2019;Shojaaddini et al., 2008).According to the published reports on the occurrence of food contaminants such as pesticides, food safety is one of the world's most critical health concerns (Amirahmadi et al., 2017;Razzaghi et al., 2018). Many efforts have been made to discover alternative methods of non-toxic pest control. One of these new methods is the plasma jet (Abd El-Aziz et al., 2014).

Treatment of seeds by cold ambient air plasma: combining impedance measurements with water sorption modeling to understand the impact of seed hydration

“…Xanthomonas, Ralstonia solanacearum) and pests (e.g. P. interpunctella, ants, birds) [11][12][13][14]. Combating these threats is essential as they can compromise agricultural production, nutritional contents and health safety [15].…”

Inhibitory effects of cold atmospheric plasma on population growth of the carob moth, Ectomyelois ceratoniae (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in laboratory

“…[18] showed that 100% mortality was achieved in the experimental population of T. confusum and E. kuehniella with plasma jet treatment of 20 sec. In a recent study, [19], reported an approximate duration of 14 min of atmospheric/argon cold plasma for complete destruction of Plodia interpunctella (Hu ¨bner) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) on pistachios. In another new study, [20] using two gases, argon and helium, showed that helium gas was more successful in controlling T. castaneum than argon gas and the best time to achieve the maximum mortality was 90 sec.…”

Impact of Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) Treatments on the Oxidation of Pistachio Kernel Lipids

“…Both atmospheric and low-pressure plasma generating devices have been assessed for their effectiveness on pistachios: 1-5 log reductions of Aspergillus parasitucus [9], 2-5 log reductions of A. flavus [10][11][12][13], and 1-2 log reductions in the fungal population of naturally contaminated pistachios (range: 5.67-7.96 log CFU g −1 ) [14] have been measured, according to the device design, type of feeding gas (air, argon, sulfur hexafluoride), and exposure time. More recently, the effect of a plasma jet source on the warehouse pest of pistachio Plodia interpunctella has been evaluated as an alternative method of non-toxic pest control [15]. Even if the chemistry of the process is currently under investigation, it is a fact that plasma treatments showed strong potentials in mycotoxins degradation as well: [9] observed 20-50% reduction in the aflatoxin levels (B1, B2, G1, and G2), while [10] reported a 52% reduction of B1 toxin in pistachio nut samples.…”