Synergistic effects of heat and diatomaceous earth treatment for the control of Plodia interpunctella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

Plodia interpunctella is a major economic pest that commonly infests most stored and processed agricultural products. Currently, heating at 50-60°C for at least 48h is applied in facilities for disinfestation. However, this condition requires a great deal of time and expense. To improve the control efficiency of this system, we conducted combined treatments with heating and diatomaceous earth (DE), which is known to be toxic to pest insects. The DE effect was compared to heating at 25°C or 40°C to wandering fifth instar larvae, which is the stage most tolerant to heat. When larvae were brushed with DE powder, mortality was only 15.0-18.3% at 25°C for 10 days, but rapidly increased to 100% at 40°C within 4h post-treatment. In addition, when larvae were kept in a plastic cage with DE [4mg/L (w/v)], their mortality was 100% in 24h at 40°C post-treatment; otherwise mortality was only 8.8% without DE. Thus, the control efficiency of heating significantly improved with the combination of DE. These effects increased further at higher temperatures and with longer exposure. Our results clearly showed that DE treatment showed synergistic effects with heating systems for the control of P.interpunctella.