A team of researchers from the Agricultural Research service (ARS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) investigated the impact of nitric oxide fumigation on the quality of several fresh commodities and the efficacy on a flat mite Brevipalpus yothersi. With 1% (v:v) nitric oxide fumigated for 6 hours at 5 °C chamber temperature and the fumigations terminated with nitrogen flush to reduce remaining nitric oxide in the chambers.
At the end of fumigation, there was no adverse impact was found to the following fruit and vegetable tested: asparagus, avocado, grape, mango, navel orange, and kiwi. However, the above same fumigation conditions completely killed the adults mites of B. yothersi. In fact, shorter fumigation period (4 hours) and lower nitric oxide rate (0.5% v:v) also achieved 100% kill of the mite.
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Fumigation for control of quarantine pests
VATIS UPDATE Part
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