Trapping Red Flour Beetle Adults in Neighborhoods Surrounding A Grain Cleaning Facility

1. Presented at the 9th International Working Conference on Stored-Product Protection, 15-18 October 2006, Campinas, Brazil N Fig.1. Picture showing the grain cleaning facility (3.2 million bushels storage capacity) and railroad yard. The houses were located to the north and south of the facility. Scale: 1cm=67.37ft Bhadriraju Subramanyam and Xingwei Hou Department of Grain Science and Industry Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA Results Background Information Trapping Red Flour Beetle Adults in Neighborhoods Surrounding A Grain Cleaning Facility Fig. 3. Frequency distribution of beetles captured in outdoor traps Fig. 4. Contour map of outdoor trap captures Materials and Methods Fig. 6. Comparison of beetle captures among four locations Fig. 5. Beetle captures among cleaning facility floors N The number of traps and sampling schedules are shown in the table below. Pheromone-baited sticky traps were placed on all five floors of the facility, within the railroad yard, and the four corners of 31 houses. In addition, food and pheromone-baited pitfall traps were placed in 26 houses to monitor beetles in various floors and rooms. Traps placed outdoor were distributed as shown in Fig 2. Fig. 8. Frequency distribution of captures in pitfall traps inside houses (N = 235 traps) Fig. 7. Comparison of beetles captured in traps placed around houses Annoyed by the infestation of red flour beetles, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), inside homes, the residents living nearby a grain cleaning facility requested us to investigate the magnitude of the infestation. The presence of the cleaning facility prevented us from conducting a mark-release-recapture study. To study the beetle presence and distribution, only traps were used at the facility in the railroad yard to the south of the facility, and homes to the north and south of the facility during July to October in 1998. Fig. 9. Pitfall trap captures of beetles inside houses by floor (N = 235) Fig. 10. Pitfall trap captures of beetles inside houses by room (N = 235) * pitfall traps Fig.2. Sticky traps (boxed in the top picture) were placed outdoors at the cleaning facility (top), houses (middle), and railroad yard (bottom). Pitfall traps (boxed in the middle picture) were placed inside of houses. • Beetles were present inside and outside the facility and houses. • Captures were not significantly different (P > 0.05) between the facility and houses. • Very few beetles were captured in the railroad yard. • Outdoor beetle captures did not vary within a house (F = 0.50; df = 3, 89; P = 0.686), but varied among houses (F = 3.29; df = 30,89; P = 0.0001; mean density range 0.26 – 7.89 adults/trap/30 days). • Except for the attic, beetles were generally found in pitfall traps in every floor and room. Conclusions Acknowledgement:This project was supported by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.