An Improved Quarantine Method for Mangoes Against the Mexican Fruit Fly Based on High-Pressure Processing Combined with Heat

Abstract

The Mexican fruit fly Anastrepha ludens Loew (Diptera: Tephritidae) is one of the most important insects infesting mangoes, citrus, and other fruits in Mexico and other Latin-American countries. Quarantine methods approved to destroy this insect decrease the shelf life of commodities. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of high-pressure processing using an initial temperature of 50 degrees C on the survivorship of eggs and larvae of the Mexican fruit fly. Eggs and larvae were pressurized at 25, 50, 75, 100, or 150 MPa for 0, 5, 10, or 20 min. The hatching ability of pressurized eggs of 1, 2, 3, and 4 days old and survivorship of the first, second, and third instars were registered. Further, the ability to pupate was studied in surviving third instars. The results showed that eggs were more resistant than larvae to the high-pressure processing. Treatments at 150 MPa at initial 50 degrees C for 10 min destroyed all eggs and larvae of A. ludens, indicating that this process might be useful as a quarantine method for infested mangoes or other fruits.

Resistance of Mexican Fruit Fly to Quarantine Treatments of High Hydrostatic Pressure Combined with Heat

“…The temperature and pressure levels of the treatments were selected on the basis of previous studies that have shown that 508C is needed (Velazquez et al, 2009b) and mangoes are not resistant to HPP above 100 MPa (Candelario-Rodríguez et al, 2009). HPP needs short process time to be profitable (Velazquez et al, 2005a(Velazquez et al, , 2005b.…”

“…Recently, it was shown that A. ludens larvae were able to resist and pupate even after being pressurized at 150 MPa for 20 min at 258C (Candelario-Rodríguez et al, 2009), 150 MPa for 10 min at 08C (Velazquez et al, 2009a), and at 75 MPa for 0 min at 508C (Velazquez et al, 2009b).…”

“…Recently, it has been reported that combining HPP with low or high temperature is feasible to reduce the level of pressure required to destroy eggs or larvae of A. ludens (Velazquez et al, 2009a;2009b). These results allow considering HPP as an alternative quarantine method, but more studies are essential to obtain conditions under 100 MPa, which is the pressure level that unripe mangoes seem to tolerate well (Candelario-Rodríguez et al, 2009).…”

“…At an initial temperature of 508C, eggs were more resistant than larvae to this combined treatment (Velazquez et al, 2009b). Quarantine treatments might be viable if surviving organisms lose their capability of growing up or reproducing.…”

“…The efficiency of HPP was improved by combining HPP with cold (Velazquez et al, 2009a) or heat (Velazquez et al, 2009b). At an initial temperature of 508C, eggs were more resistant than larvae to this combined treatment (Velazquez et al, 2009b).…”