Location: Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research
Project Number: 2040-43000-018-013-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Mar 1, 2021
End Date: Sep 30, 2022
Objective:
• Determine efficacy of EF as a disinfestation method of pineapple mealybug.
• Compare phytotoxicity of EF and MB on pineapple quality.
• Evaluate sensitivity of EF on other Hawaiian mealybugs or scales insects that are not established in Korea, depending on the availability of insects.
• Develop phytosanitary guidelines for EF treatment and its application (based on liquid EF, nitrogen gas, and EF vaporizer) on pineapples infested with pineapple mealybug.
Approach:
• Pineapple mealybugs will be field collected in pineapple farms in Hawaii, identified, and will be reared on pumpkins or artificial diet. Life cycle period in colony will be determined.
• Efficacy of EF fumigation on pineapple mealybug will be determined using small scale fumigation chambers (0.03 m3) and confirmed using larger fumigation chambers (0.2 m3 and 10 m3).
• Effect of EF and MB treatment on pineapple quality (color, firmness, weight, sugar content, taste, shelf-life, flavor) and residue will be evaluated at 8'C over 14 days using different sizes of fumigation chambers (0.012-0.055 m3, > 0.5 m3, > 10 m3) to ensure commercial applicability and reproducibility.
• EF and MB sorption in from pineapple will be determined to adjust the amount of EF treated in scale up experiments. EF and MB desorption will be also determined to evaluate worker safety.
• Concentration of EF and MB will be determined using gas-chromatography with FID or BID detector.
• Scale-up confirmatory fumigation trial will be conducted in large-scale chambers (> 10 m3) with infested pineapples.
• For small scale chambers, liquid EF will be injected to the chamber. For mid- and large-scale chambers, liquid EF will be vaporized using a vaporizer and delivered to chamber using nitrogen gas.
