Postharvest treatment research at USDA-ARS: stored product fumigation

The overall goal of this USDA-ARS research is to ensure the protection and quality of stored product foodstuffs. The results of this research directly enhance production, distribution, and safety of foodstuffs, promote and retain access of United States-grown crops to domestic and foreign markets, and protect the United States and trading partners from the agricultural, ecological and economic threat posed by quarantine and invasive pests. In general, USDA-ARS research related to the fumigation of stored products focuses on the development of techniques to rapidly disinfest raw products of field pests, control pests in processed products amenable to reinfestation and microbial infection, and reduce reliance on fumigation as a stand-alone measure for postharvest disinfestations and disinfections. Specific research objectives include: comparative evaluation of alternative fumigants to methyl bromide in postharvest applications, development of novel technologies to reduce and eliminate atmospheric emissions from chambers used in postharvest fumigation, and design production strategies that allow for a more strategic postharvest use of methyl bromide and alternative fumigants. Recent research findings will be presented and discussed, including: exposure requirements of phosphine on key stored product pests (as related to resistance management), the establishment of efficacy and experimental criterion for quarantine applications, and the development of models to quantitatively understand the underpinnings of fumigations and related phytosanitary treatments.