Phytosanitary Irradiation

Abstract

Phytosanitary treatments disinfest traded commodities of potential quarantine pests. Phytosanitary irradiation (PI) treatments use ionizing radiation to accomplish this, and, since their international commercial debut in 2004, the use of this technology has increased by ~10% annually. Generic PI treatments (one dose is used for a group of pests and/or commodities, although not all have been tested for efficacy) are used in virtually all commercial PI treatments, and new generic PI doses are proposed, such as 300 Gy, for all insects except pupae and adult Lepidoptera (moths). Fresh fruits and vegetables tolerate PI better than any other broadly used treatment. Advances that would help facilitate the use of PI include streamlining the approval process, making the technology more accessible to potential users, lowering doses and broadening their coverage, and solving potential issues related to factors that might affect efficacy.

A Review of <i>Bactrocera minax</i> (Diptera: Tephritidae) in China for the Purpose of Safeguarding

“…International collaborative work between China and the potential import countries is critical to validate the efficacy of the treatment, as well as the potential impact on fruit quality. Significant progress has been made in recent years in understanding the efficacy of irradiation against tephritid fruit flies inside fresh fruits, as well as the impact of irradiation on fruit quality [91]. There are not sufficient data to make a decision regarding a cold treatment schedule suitable for B. minax phytosanitary treatment.…”

The role of oxygen depletion and subsequent radioprotective effects during irradiation of mosquito pupae in water

“…Whilst protocols for the irradiation of agricultural pests have become very standardized following decades of experience in the context of the SIT and phytosanitary treatments [38], mosquito irradiation protocols around the world are still very diverse, making reliability and reproducibility difficult. As male pupae sterilization is shifting from small sample sizes in Petri dishes for experimental work to bulk exposures of thousands or hundreds of thousands for field releases, handling and exposure protocols are changing for improved efficiency and practicality.…”

Assessment irradiation effects on different development stages of Callosobruchus maculatus and on chemical, physical and microbiological quality of cowpea seeds

“…Therefore, alternative quarantine treatment to safety more the commodities out of quarantine are needed. In recent years, phytosanitary treatments of agricultural commodities to disinfest insect's pests have expanded rapidly (Hallman and Blackburn, 2016). About doses used for phytosanitary treatment, irradiation causes damage to insect cellular macromolecules such as deoxyribonucleic acid and ribonucleic acid and thereof, it is effective regard to all stages of insect development.…”