High-Pressure Carbon Dioxide Use to Control Dried Apricot Pests, Tribolium castaneum and Rhyzopertha dominica, and Assessing the Qualitative Traits of Dried Pieces of Treated Apricot

Abstract

One of the new ways of warehouse pest control is the carbon dioxide treatment, which had no residues on the target products. In the present research, at first, CO2 gas was applied to control two important pest species infesting dried apricots. Dry apricots infested with adults of Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) or Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) were exposed to CO2 gas pressures correspond to 9.1, 16.7, 23.1, 28.6, and 33.4 mol% for 24 h. The results showed higher mortality rates with increasing the gas pressures in all the experiments. The minimum and maximum losses of the pests were determined at concentrations of 9.1 and 33.4 mol%, respectively. Evaluation of CO2 gas effects on the quality characteristics of dried apricots showed no impacts on the color, brittleness, hardness, sweetness, sourness, and general acceptance of products. CO2 gas treatments at the concentration of 33.4 mol% showed no significant influences on the chemical features of dried apricots, including pH, acidity, Brix, humidity percentage, reducing sugar, and total sugar. It was concluded that CO2 gas had the potential to control T. castaneum and R. dominica in warehouses of dried apricots, without any significant impacts on product qualities.

Detection of Specific Volatile Organic Compounds in Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) by Solid-Phase Microextraction and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

“…Therefore, the frequent sampling testing has become a necessary means to detect the existence of pests in stored products. It is important to control grain pests by using new and effective pesticides [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ], but identifying the extent to which stored grain is infected by pests is the basis for control. The sooner you find out, the fewer pesticides you might use and the fewer grain storage losses it will incur.…”

Towards the Use of Natural Compounds for Crop Protection and Food Safety

“…In addition to essential oils and their components, other natural chemicals and procedures are also being explored to prolong the shelf-life and traits of produced foods. An example of this includes the study of the use and effects of carbon dioxide treatment to control warehouse pests that commonly affect dried apricots, by Sadeghi et al [ 4 ] In their research article, this group describes their investigation into the use of carbon dioxide gas at varying pressures to control two pest species: Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) and Rhyzopertha dominica (F.). In addition, the effect of CO 2 gas on the quality characteristics of dried apricots were assessed.…”