Innovative stored plant products in Germany and the potential threat by native and invasive pest insects

Climate change, economic-political developments as well as new trends in diet and in bio-economy considerably influence the assortment of cultivated plants in Germany and thereby, determine the plant products which have to be stored after harvest. In the light of the International Year of Pulses 2016 and also, as a result of the European Soya Declaration, the acreage cultivated with new plants such as pulses, stress tolerant wheat varieties and also oil seed rape expanded worldwide. Due to increasing stocks of novel commodities, the emergence of economically important insects infesting stored products and the possible risk caused by native and invasive pest species have to be generally considered during storage. In this overall context, we studied the capacity of various stored-product pest insects to infest two important pulses. In laboratory tests different varieties of soy and lupine have been offered as whole seeds, grist and flour to selected moth and beetle species common in Germany. Over 14 weeks we examined the developmental time from egg to eclosion as well as the number of adults in the F1 generation compared to control insects reared on their standard feeding substrate. First findings under laboratory conditions (20-25 °C, 65-70 % RH) indicate that these innovative stored products, and in particular its simply processed plant products are highly susceptible to moths (i.a. Ephestia elutella, Plodia interpunctella) and to a much lesser extent also to some beetle species (i.a. Callosobruchus chinensis, Tribolium confusum), but the usally recommended optimal storage conditions (T ≤ 16 °C, RH ≤ 65%) can prevent a loss of volume and quality.