Preferences of Indian Meal Moth Larvae for Different Dog Foods

Indian meal moths (IMM), Plodiainterpuntella, are persistent pests to our foods (Fasulo et al.1998; Plunkett’s Pest Control 2018). When IMMs infest a a food product the resulting value loss is the result of contamination by larvae that leave droppings and silken webs in grain and grain products (Jacob and Calvin 2001). The IMM is an important pest of high-value dog foods and the grain components of these food may influence their infestation. Experiments were conducted with eggs of the IMM to determine if moth larvae would choose and infest the grain-based dog food in comparison to dog foods with a higher meat content. IMM laboratory rearing diet was included for comparison. No-choice and choice tests confirmed the IMM diet to be the most preferred and best for larval development. Forced infestation of 50 IMM eggs on the four different dog foods found difference among them. In two-choice test that require newly hatched larvae to walk to and infest either lab diet or a dog food, the highest proportion of larvae selecting any of the dog foods was on product C, which was a medium quality, grain-free food. These results suggest that IMM infestations in warehouses or consumer’s homes could be prevalent on some dog foods more than others

Efficacy of Different Pet Treat Formulations to Prevent Infestation by the Mite Tyrophagus putrescentiae

The pet food industry is a major part of the high-value processed food market in the USA and worldwide. Pest control associated with pet foods is an important activity. The mite Tyrophagus putrescentiae is a prolific cosmopolitan species that can infests high-value pet treats undetected until the infestations increase to very large numbers. Propylene glycol is a food-safe additive used to prevent mite infestations (Zhang et al., 2018; Abbar et al. 2015). Unfortunately, propylene glycol in certain foods can harm pets, and many companies are changing formulations. Here we conducted forced infestation of mites on three experimental pet treats and compared these to the current product that contains propylene glycol for susceptibility to mite infestation. We confirmed that the current product with propylene glycol did not support any mite population growth after a forced infestation with 20 mites. Two of the test formulations showed promise in preventing mite infestation, but one formulation was clearly susceptible to mites

Oviposition and Larval Development of the Indian Meal Moth, Plodia interpunctella, on Different Breakfast Cereals

Plodiainterpunctella, the Indian meal moth (IMM), is a common pest of grain products. Adult IMMs lay eggs on a food source and once hatched, the larvae consume the product while leaving behind large amounts of frass and silk [1, 2]. The purpose of this experiment was to identify which kind of grain products are at the highest risk of P. interpunctellainfestation by using the lab-rearing diet as a comparison to two different breakfast cereals of the same brand: a frosted cereal and a regular non-frosted cereal. Two-choice tests determined if moths prefer to lay eggs on and which of the choices would b for the larva to develop. At the end of the experiment, it was observed that adult P. interpunctella preferred to lay their eggs on the frosted cereal diet. The frosted cereal diet also proved to be the better of the two for larval survival and growth. This research suggests that frosted cereals may be preferred by this pest, and that such products need special protection during storage

The Traveling Salesman Problem in the Natural Environment

Is it possible for humans to navigate in the natural environment wherein the path taken between various destinations is 'optimal' in some way? In the domain of optimization this challenge is traditionally framed as the "Traveling Salesman Problem" (TSP). What strategies and ecological considerations are plausible for human navigation? When given a two-dimensional map-like presentation of the destinations, participants solve this optimization exceptionally well (only 2-3% longer than optimum)^1, 2^. In the following experiments we investigate the effect of effort and its environmental affordance on navigation decisions when humans solve the TSP in the natural environment. Fifteen locations were marked on two outdoor landscapes with flat and varied terrains respectively. Performance in the flat-field condition was excellent (∼6% error) and was worse but still quite good in the variable-terrain condition (∼20% error), suggesting participants do not globally pre-plan routes but rather develop them on the fly. We suggest that perceived effort guides participant solutions due to the dynamic constraints of effortful locomotion and obstacle avoidance

Hexanes as Deterrents in Tribolium

Citation: Hamblin, M. (2017). Hexanes as Deterrents in Tribolium . 1st Annual Undergraduate Research Experience in Entomology Symposium, November 16, 2016. Manhattam, KS.Red flour beetles are a serious pest to stored grain crops (United States 2015). Many different studies have been and are currently being done to find new anti-feedant deterrents to keep these beetles from infesting or destroying grain stores. I opted to study hexane compounds because hexane extracts significantly indicate antifeedant activity (Rajopadhye et al. 2016). Ethanol extracts have also shown to be useful anti-feedant deterrents (Khan et al 2016). Through my study, I found that a significant number of red flour beetles avoided most of the hexane compounds tested. While it is currently unknown how these compounds would react as long-term deterrents, it has been shown that some of the tested compounds do have the potential to be at least a short term deterrent

The Effects of Different Wavelengths of Light on Tribolium castaneum

Citation: Pfannenstiel, L. (2017). The Effects of Different Wavelengths of Light on Tribolium castaneum . 1st Annual Undergraduate Research Experience in Entomology Symposium, November 16, 2016. Manhattam, KS.Insects are known to be able to see different wavelengths of lights than humans can see. Because of this, there has been a lot of research done into using light to prevent damage caused by storedproduct pests. Common pests that research has been performed on are psocids (Diaz-Montano et al., 2015) and fruit flies (Saranwong et al., 2011). One of the biggest pests of stored-products is the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum. Research on the attraction of different wavelengths of light has already been done on these beetles and published (Duehl et al., 2011), and my project mirrors that research. My hypothesis was that the shorter wavelengths of light would attract red flour beetles while the longer wavelengths of light would have no effect. My results show that, compared to a white light, the shorter wavelength light attracted more beetles. Compared to no light, there wasn’t a definite trend in wavelength of lights and attractiveness. The attractiveness of short-wavelength lights could be used to make traps for red flour beetles more effective and prevent damage to storedgrains

Mating disruption of Lasioderma serricorne (Coleoptera: Anobiidae) in stored product habitats using the synthetic pheromone serricornin

Citation: Mahroof, R. M., & Phillips, T. W. (2014). Mating disruption of Lasioderma serricorne (Coleoptera: Anobiidae) in stored product habitats using the synthetic pheromone serricornin. Retrieved from http://krex.ksu.eduCigarette beetles, Lasioderma serricorne (F.) (Coleoptera: Anobiidae), cause significant damage to the multi-billion dollar food and tobacco industries worldwide each year. A non-insecticidal alternative to manage L. serricorne is the application of mating disruption, in which high levels of synthetic sex pheromone are released to create an atmosphere that results in males failing to mate females thereby causing population suppression or extinction. The reported work used synthetic serricornin, the predominant sex pheromone of L. serricorne, in mating disruption trials conducted in selected food and feed processing facilities in South Carolina during 2010 and 2011. Mills subjected to mating disruption trials were monitored using oviposition cups filled with larval food and pheromone traps for males that contained monitoring lures. Immediately after deployment of mating disruption dispensers, trap captures declined significantly and indicated a reduction in population levels, i.e. there was “trap shut down”. A significant reduction was observed in numbers of adult beetles caught in the traps eight weeks before and eight weeks after treatment in both years. Beetle numbers from pheromone traps in untreated buildings remained at similar levels or increased after the time of mating disruption deployment in treated buildings. The numbers of adults that emerged from oviposition food cups were generally low and varied irregularly in treated and untreated buildings, and were determined to be of little value for assessing treatment effects on reproduction. These initial field studies in the U.S. suggest that release of the synthetic sex pheromone of L. serricorne for mating disruption can significantly inhibit proper orientation behavior of male L. serricorne to females and may lead to pest population decline from mating disruption

Oviposition and reproductive performance of Habrobracon hebetor (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) on six different pyralid host species

Citation: Ghimire, M., & Phillips, T. (2014) Oviposition and Reproductive Performance of Habrobracon hebetor (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) on Six Different Pyralid Host Species. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 107(4), 809-817. https://doi.org/10.1603/AN14046Habrobracon hebetor Say (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a gregarious ecto-parasitoid that attacks larvae of several species of Lepidoptera, mainly pyralid moths infesting stored products. Host quality strongly influences the reproductive success of the parasitoid. In this study, we assessed the reproductive performance of the parasitoid, H. hebetor in a series of laboratory experiments using six different pyralid host species: Indianmeal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hübner), Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella (Zeller), almond moth, Ephestia cautella (Walker), rice moth, Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton), navel orangeworm, Amyelois transitella (Walker), and greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella L. Experiments were conducted using petri dishes (100 by 15 mm) as experimental arenas at 29 ± 1°C, 65 ± 5% relative humidity, and a photoperiod of 14:10 (L:D) h. Two-day-old H. hebetor females were introduced singly into experimental arenas and given a single host larva every day throughout their lifetime. The numbers of hosts paralyzed and parasitized, numbers of eggs laid each day on each host, egg-to-adult survivorship, and progeny sex ratio were used as parameters for assessing host suitability. Paralysis of hosts by H. hebetor females was significantly affected by host species. H. hebetor paralyzed >95% of the preferred host larvae that were offered and also used ≈90% of those for oviposition. Daily fecundity was highest on G. mellonella (22.1 ± 0.4) and C. cephalonica (21.6 ± 0.3), and lowest on E. cautella (13.4 ± 0.2). The egg-to-adult survivorship and progeny sex ratio were also significantly affected by the host species. The highest percentage of parasitoid survival was on A. transitella (75.7 ± 2.0) and C. cephalonica (75.4 ± 2.5), and lowest on G. mellonella (49.7 ± 4.8). Our studies clearly showed that H. hebetor females can paralyze and lay eggs on several pyralid species, but it cannot necessarily develop and reproduce optimally on all host species that it can paralyze and parasitize

Water Relationships of Kentucky Soils

Plant water stress is the most limiting single factor in crop production in Kentucky. It almost always occurs sometime during July and/or August even though it\u27s variability makes it hard to predict. Even though the 1979 growing season was an exception to this generalization the 1980 growing season was a vivid reminder of this fact especially in Western Kentucky

Performance and Comparison of Custom Serial Powering Regulators and Architectures for SLHC Silicon Trackers

Serial powering is an elegant solution to power the SLHC inner trackers with a minimum volume of cables. Previously R&D on the serial powering of silicon strip detector modules had been based on discrete commercial electronics, but with the delivery of the Atlas Binary Chip Next chip in 0.25 micron CMOS technology (ABCN-25) and the Serial Powering Interface chip (SPi), custom elements of shunt regulators and transistors became available. These ASICs can be used to implement three complementary serial powering architectures. The features of these schemes and their performance with 10 and 20 chip ABCN-25 hybrids will be presented