The expansion of international fruit trade has increased the risk of introducing quarantine pests. This trend needs for effective quarantine disinfestation technologies. Carposina sasakii, which infests apples, peaches, and pears, is designated as a c...
The expansion of international fruit trade has increased the risk of introducing quarantine pests. This trend needs for effective quarantine disinfestation technologies. Carposina sasakii, which infests apples, peaches, and pears, is designated as a critical quarantine pest for exported apples. Methyl bromide (MB), the fumigant widely used for quarantine treatment, is currently classified as an ozone-depleting substance and its use is being restricted. Therefore, developing safe and sustainable alternative technologies are needed.
In this study, we evaluated efficacy and phytotoxicity of phosphine fumigation, cold treatment and a phosphine fumigation followed by cold treatment. Phosphine sorption tests conducted at 23°C and 5°C showed no significant differences among loading ratios(0, 10 and 25%, w/v). Therefore, all subsequent experiments were performed at maximum loading ratio. At 2 mg/L, phosphine fumigation achieved complete mortality after 72 hours at 23°C and after 240 hours at 5°C. Cold treatment at 1°C resulted in 100% mortality after 20 days. Phytotoxicity occurred under phosphine fumigation at 23°C but did not occur under cold fumigation or cold treatment. Based on LCt and LT values obtained from the single treatment trials, phosphine fumigation followed by cold treatment performed a composite treatment. The conditions for achieving 100% mortality were identified. Medium-scale trial was conducted using a 0.5 m3 fumigation chamber. Phosphine was fumigated for 117 hours at 5°C under the LCt₅₀ condition, and then cold treatment(5°C) was performed for 12 days at 1°C under the LT₆₀ condition. As a result, 90.9% mortality was achieved, the phosphine desorption concentration was less than the TLV (0.3 ppm), and no phytotoxicity occurred in apples. However, this trial was conducted at 166.2 mg h/L, below the target CT value (188.5 mg h/L). While complete mortality was not achieved, the combination treatment demonstrated high mortality without causing any phytotoxicity.
These results indicate that combining phosphine fumigation with cold treatment can reduce treatment duration while maintaining apple’s quality. This approach can provide foundational data for establishing effective alternative plant quarantine phytosanitary treatment guidelines for the quarantine control of C. sasakii.