ARS | Publication request: RESISTANCE OF STORED OATS TO INSECTS

Submitted to: National Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: June 30, 1998
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: We determined the resistance of crushed and whole oats to three of the most common insect pests of stored oats in the U.S.: the flat grain beetle, Cryptolestes pusillus (Schonherr)(Coleoptera: Laemophloeidae); the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst)(Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae); and the sawtoothed grain beetle, Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.)(Coleoptera: Silvanidae). Oat cultivars tested were those most commonly grown in the U.S.: Brawn, Don, Dumont, Hytest, Jerry, Milton, Newdak, Otana, Paul, Riel, Robert, and Valley. All crushed oats supported reproduction of the insects. Some cultivars of the whole oats were almost totally resistant to the insects, while other cultivars supported population levels comparable to those on crushed oats. We tested for correlation between insect reproduction and chemical and physical characteristics of the oat cultivars: kernel size, equilibrium moisture content, beta-glucan, starch, lipid, protein, hardness, test weight, groat weight, and groat breakage.