Stewart Postharvest Review

An international journal for reviews in postharvest biology and technology

© 2011 Stewart Postharvest Solutions (UK) Ltd.                                                                                                  

Online ISSN:1945-9656

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Online ISSN:1945-9656

www.stewartpostharvest.com  © 2005 Stewart Postharvest Solutions (UK) Ltd.

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The economic injury level and the action threshold in stored-product systems

 

 

 

Christian Nansen^1,2* and William G Meikle³

¹Department of Entomology, Texas AgriLife Research, Lubbock, Texas, USA

²School of Animal Biology and The UWA,  The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Perth, Western Australia

³USDA/ARS, Weslaco, Texas, USA

 

 

 

Abstract

Purpose of review: To provide concepts and basics of integrated pest management (IPM) and its use in the stored product protection context.

Findings: Grain stores are ideal systems for forecasting and controlling growth in insect populations. IPM was initially developed for managing insects in agriculture, and sampling to determine whether a pest exceeds a threshold for intervention is central to implementing IPM. While IPM has had success in field crops, it is rarely applied in stored product systems, partly due to the ease of calendar-based applications with chemicals, and partly due to the labour involved in sampling. Also, there are difficulties in interpreting trap catch data and relating these data to establish action thresholds and to value grain and grain-based products. However, few important stored-product pest population models have been developed, and trap-based monitoring in stored wheat can be successfully used to manage pest populations.

Directions for future research: A better understanding of insect pest ecology, combined with improved sampling methods and data interpretation tools, would increase the likelihood of IPM adoption in stored-product systems.

 

Keywords: stored products;  insect management;  economic threshold; economic injury level; sampling protocols

 

*Correspondence to: Christian Nansen, School of Animal Biology and The UWA,  The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Perth, Western Australia 6009. Tel: + 61 (0) 8 6488 4717; Fax: +61 (0) 8 6488 7354; email: ioa@uwa.edu.au

Stewart Postharvest Review 2011, 3:7

Published online 01 December 2011

doi: 10.2212/spr.2011.3.7