The FINANCIAL -- The application of commonly recommended management principles has
eradicated a strain of grain storage insects with strong phosphine
resistance, located on a Western Australian farm.
The achievement – involving more than three years of treatment and monitoring followed by a final check of the site - was made by Department of Agriculture and Food staff with support from the Grains Research and Development Corporation .It is believed to be the first time that elimination of on-farm grain storage insects with strong phosphine resistance has been scientifically documented and confirmed in Australia and possibly the world.
The strongly phosphine-resistant red-rust flour beetles were detected on a farm near Wubin, in the Dalwallinu shire, through monitoring by DAFWA, conducted with funding by the GRDC and the Cooperative Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity.
DAFWA grain storage specialist Chris Newman, who provides information and training to Western Australian growers under a GRDC funded grain storage project, said the resistant population was this year confirmed as eliminated after recommended management practices were applied and silos were sealed.Mr Newman said the case of strong resistance was one of only a handful which had developed in WA within the last five years.
He said the resistant strain of RFB at Wubin was believed to have developed independently on the farm after the farmer used incorrect phosphine dosing practices to treat the grain, contained in poorly sealed silos, over 11 years.
Mr Newman said many strongly resistant strains of insects could be eradicated with label-rate phosphine fumigation, provided the storage facility was gas-tight.DAFWA senior research officer Rob Emery said the identification of the resistant strain of RFB and its eradication showed that growers’ money – through the GRDC research levy – was being spent in a way that benefited them directly.
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