Ultrasonic phytosanitation of pinewood nematode infected wood

Abstract

Pinewood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) mortality was investigated after ultrasonic treatment at 20 and 40 kHz frequency. Experiments were conducted with infected small wood specimens that were ultrasonically treated for 1, 3, 5 and 7 hours and two variable temperature conditions, namely, a gradually increasing from ambient to a maximum of 70 o C and a decreasing from ambient to a minimum of 5 o C. The results revealed that the ultrasonic treatment itself had no significant effect on the nematode mortality at the 5 o C level, while at the 70 o C level, considerable nematode mortality was observed in short time periods and at 7 hours of sonic exposure it reached 100%. Therefore, certain combinations of timing and frequency of ultrasonic waves and produced heat can be effective in killing pinewood nematodes thus resulting in phytosanitized wood.

Densification of wood – Chemical and structural changes due to ultrasonic and mechanical treatment

“…Certain combinations of timing and frequency of ultrasonic waves and produced heat are effective in killing pinewood nematodes (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus), thus resulting in phytosanitized wood (mortality of nematodes reaches 100%) (Sohi et al 2016).…”