Issue II 2005
Contents: - Introduction - Sales / Marketing - Research and Development - News Dr.-Werner-Freyberg-Str.11 69514 Laudenbach Germany Tel.: 0049/6201/708-401 Fax: 0049/6201/708-402 export@detia-degesch.de www.detia-degesch.de Dear Distributor and Customer, We received a lot of positive feed back on st our 1 issue of the Marketing News early this year. Thank you! I would like to invite you to continue to send us your comments on the Marketing News and we would be pleased to receive topics you want to have covered through it. nd In our 2 issue, some articles refer to the occurrence of phosphine resistance in insects and how to prevent it. The economic damage resulting from insect infestation is high. Physical and chemical methods are being used to kill insect pests. Within the chemicals phosphine is being used in many different application areas and crops. It is the most widely Sales / Marketing Importance of Proper Fumigation Technique Phosphine releasing compounds are the most widely used fumigants around the world for to control storage pests. Past experience has shown that the extensive use of Phosphine also led to inadequate fumigations by untrained staff in a large number of countries resulting in tremendous losses. For instance fumigation in leaky structures where PH 3 gas rapidly lost during its application was many times followed by re-fumigations to control the surviving insects. Over the years such a practice contributed to the development of resistant strains of insects. The main strategy to control phosphineresistant insects with phosphine would therefore involve the extension of the used fumigant in the world. Phosphine is therefore called a unique product in stored product protection - it is the gold standard. Thus it is of utmost importance to secure this fumigant for future generations. And this leads me to the importance of proper fumigation techniques. In this issue and in future ones, articles will focus on good fumigation practises to further increase the know-how on fumigations. Jürgen Wenzel exposure period rather than increasing the dosage. This essentially requires application of phosphine in a gas-tight volume. In some developing countries this is difficult to achive under practical field situation. Phosphine gas is used in a variety of treatment situations and mainly in developing countries, it is applicated most extensively to treat particularly cereals in bag stacks under gas-proof sheeting. The method of fumigation knows a lot of variations. In South Asia for instance phosphine is commonly used to treat whole stores rather than individual stacks. It was recognized in the mid-1980s that insect resistance to Phosphine in Pakistan and Bangladesh developed largely as a result of the long-term Page 1
practice of fumigating whole stores that were not gas-tight.that means it was unable to retain the absolute necessary toxic gas concentrations. On the other hand where fumigation sheets have holes and tears or where insufficient sand snakes are being used to give good floor-level sealing gas leakage will occur. An example : In a Southeast Asian country bagged rice was fumigated with 2 g PH / to. Quality of 3 the sheets and sealing was not appropriate. Phosphine concentration did not exceed 0.5 mg / l and after 100 hours it reached 0.2 mg/l only. By contrast in trials in Tanzania efficacy tests were done to control the larger grain borer in well sealed stacks with same dosage of 2 g PH / to. 3 The concentration approached 2.0 mg / l and only fell to 1.5 mg / l after 120 hours. This example shows the necessity of gas-proof sheets of best quality. These sheets must be used repeatedly and for that reason their mechanical resistance is of great importance. DETIA DEGESCH fumigation sheets fullfil these characteristics. The J-system a method for hydrogen phosphide fumigations Fumigations with hydrogen phosphide developing preparations (bags, plates, tablets or pellets) are a well-proven and very successful method to control pests in stored grain. However with upright silos a prerequisite for feeding in the preparations is that they can be added to the conveyer belts during the circulation of the infested grain or at the filling hole. To avoid the troublesome grain circulation or the holding available of empty silo cells for this kind of fumigation DETIA DEGESCH has developed the so-called J-System Fig 1: Phosphine retention in poorly sealed and well-sealed stacks dosed at 2 g/t Pesticides play a major part in the agriculture and especially in the developing world provided that these chemicals are used properly and in accordance with the local legislation; and provided also that safety precautions on pesticide manufacture, handling, use and disposal are strictly adhered to. It is therefore very important that the training personnel sent to developing countries include technicians and advisers who should not only evaluate and sell pesticides but also provide their clients the much needed aftersale service. DETIA DEGESCH GMBH takes up this job which is meanwhile being used all over the world. With this system it is in principle no longer the fumigation preparations which are added to the grain stream during circulation but instead the developing gas is circulated. To this end the silo head is directly connected to the silo's discharging hole via a circuit connection. A specially developed fan is installed between the two. After the fumigation preparation has been broadcast onto the surface of the grain or into the still free overhead space the developing gas is drawn from the overhead through the exhaust fan. Via Page 2
Aeration Way of the phosphine Blower Fumigation product Fig 2: Schematic structure of a silo fumigation with j-system the aeration system it is led to the silo outlet and pressed into the grain mass from below. The circulation of the gas will establish a uniform hydrogen phosphide concentration throughout the grain mass. The J-System is flexible in its installation. And it is also possible to already consider its installation during the planning or building of the silos so that later on any occurring infestation can be fumigated fast and with very little extra work. Apart from making use of the main cooling and aerating circuit it is also possible to introduce a separate pipe system. A permanently installed J-System and the procedure during the first fumigation will be described below. The system is installed in grain silos in South West Spain near the Portuguese border. It is important to the silo owner that any occurring pest infestation can be counteracted immediately. By installing the circulation system his demands could be met in full. The system and the necessary building arrangements were already taken into account during the planning of the silos. The silo plant consists of seven uniform steel silos erected in 2004/2005. Each of the round silos is about 30 m high and has a cubic content of 1405, corresponding to approx. 1000 tons of grain. The new silos were already rendered gastight. The individual silo elements as well as all screw joints are silicon lined. Only the silo outlet and one aeration connecting piece on the silo roof had to be sealed with gastight foil. To each silo a J-System fan is flanged near the silo foot so that each silo can be individually fumigated if required. All pipelines for the circulation system are made of steel and firmly installed. The piping system ends in a chimney head. Through a valve the gas can be let into the air via this head (see diagramme ). The silo to be treated was filled to one third with 300 tons of maize. Bag chains of 10 bags each were used as fumigant which were let down the manhole at the silo head with string and fastened to the ladder within. Thus they hung freely in the overhead and the degassing was not obstructed in any way. The dosage had been calculated from tonnage and empty space. After the fumigant had been put in place the J-System fan was switched on by computer from a nearby works building. Here the silos under gas can be Fig 3: The speciall blower of the j-system Page 3
graphically displayed on a screen and continuously monitored. In future pipelines for measuring are to be installed in various areas of the silos so that the measuring of the complete fumigation can be technically monitored. After a 5 days exposure period and the following aeration via the chimney head the bag chains were pulled out by their strings and disposed of according to regulations. micropac Plus Personal Gas Detection Instrument The Dräger micropac Plus is a credit card sized, compact gas measuring and warning device. This maintenance-free instrument is available in six versions (CO, H2S, O2, CO2, PH3, and HCN) to monitor the ambient air in industrial workplaces and gas leaking easily can be discoveres. The low weight, low profile design allows the micropac Plus to be worn on the lapel, shirt pocket or belt of those who require a warning of the presence of hazardous gas concentrations. The instrument comes ready-to-use with sensor, battery, and factory calibration. On request, the alarms set-points can be configured to user specification. When taking stock it can be stated that the silos described are of model character. It became clear that already during the building of the silo tanks the later fumigation with hydrogen phosphide can be taken into account. The extra work during erection is easily set off against the considerably reduced effort when carrying out the fumigation later. Fig 4: micropac Plus - Personal Gas Detection Instrument Features and benefits Maintenance-free operation Concentration display Small, rugged housing Two alarm set points (user adjustable) Visual, audible and vibrating alarm DETIA DEGESCH will be pleased to provide you with on offer. Fig 5: micropac Plus - Technical Data Page 4
Research and development: Test the Pest Due to improper fumigation praxis e.g. low dossage and low temperature stored product insects become more tolerant to phosphine. Therefore many scientists have spent a lot of energy in the development of resistance tests. These tests are based on the relation between the knock down time at a defined phosphine concentration and the mortality under fumigation conditions. But they have all a big disadvantage: The test methods need approximately 24 h. Now, a 30-minute-resistance-test-kit for the testing of phosphine susceptibility of stored-product insects has been developed by DETIA DEGESCH. The resistance test kit is a tool to receive detailed information about the behaviour of adult insects in an atmosphere of 3000 ppm of phosphine. This concentration has a narcotic effect on non-resistant insects within a defined time period. Insects with a low phosphine susceptibility are still active after this time period. A phosphine concentration is produced in a plastic unit by the reaction of a new magnesium phosphide formulation and "liquid" water. Twenty adults of the 25 20 15 10 5 Fig 6: The resistance test kit stored-product insects are put in a syringe and a phosphine concentration of 3000 ppm is adjusted in the syringe by diluting the atmosphere from the plastic unit with air. The activity of the insects is observed for defined time periods depending on the insects species. As shown in figure 7 and 8 with the resistance test kit we were able to distinguish between the tolerance of different species. The results received confirm that the resistance test kit is effective for the determination of phosphine susceptibility of stored-product insects and therefore would be very helpful to receive information about the dosage 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 time [min] Lasioder ma serr icor ne Sitophil us granar ius Orytaephi lus surinamens is Tribolium castaneum Fig 7: Knock down time of different insect species at 3000 ppm Page 5
pertaining to a sucessful fumigation. Resistant strains have to be treated with higher concentration and a longer exposure time. The GOOD FUMI- GATION PRAXIS recommended by DETIA DEGESCH GMBH has to be considered. Amount of knocked down beetles News 25 20 15 10 5 0 st 1 Latin America Fumigants & Pheromones Conference & Workshop More than 200 participants from all over the world followed David Mueller's (Insect Ltd.) invitation to Monterrey, Mexico on March 8-10, 2005, which was held under the motto Real Solutions for Real Pests. This conference is one within a few in stored product protection where both, scientific themes and pragmatic issues are well balanced and where fumigators and scientists have the chance to exchange ideas. During two days, topics like methyl bromide alternatives, advances in ProFume, ship fumigations, fumigation cost etc. were discussed. DETIA DEGESCH presented its recently developed phosphine resistance testing kit which was well received by both, Our objective is to collect resistant insect strains, find out where they are distributed world wide and determine the fumigation conditions for resistant strains. Thus,do not hesitate to send us samples of resistant strains of stored product insects. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 Fig 8: Different resistant strains of the tobacco beetle time [min ] scientists and practical fumigators. On day 3, the conference ended with a fumigators' workshop at the Molisaba food processing facilities in Monterrey. John Mueller who managed the workshop focused on the save handling of fumigants as well as new fumigation techniques. The Fumigants & Pheromones series of conferences which for the first time had been organized by David Mueller in Lübeck in 1993, takes place every other year at different locations. The next Fumigants & Pheromones Conference will be in Bremen, Germany in March 2007. Page 6
Algerian Mission In April 2005 a Training Course in safe and proper handling of DETIA DEGESCH fumigants was held in Algeria. For the time being the Algerian grain stocks are mainly treated with contact insecticides, but with unsatisfactory results. So within the scope of restructering the grain industry the Algerian Cereals Office ( OAIC ) is moving towards Phosphine fumigation in order to fight succesfully against food losses. The country has ambitions schemes. They want to double their wheat production in the coming years in order to reduce its reliance on foreign purchases. Algeria currently imports approx. 4 to 5 million of its 8 million tonnes of annual wheat requirments and belongs to the worlds largest importer of durum wheat. DETIA DEGESCH has had good relations with the Algerian Cereals Office and their 48 Co-ops for a long time. The Algerians have a large variety in their storing facilities. Grain is being kept in silos, warehouses, hangars and bunker system. Proper fumigation methods of all these cargo spaces were incorporated in the Training Seminar which took place for three days near Constantine, in the eastern part of Algeria. 65 participants were invited in cooperation with our local representative Messrs. AGRICHEM - Alger. They are employees of OAIC and their Co-ops in different branches in the field of quality control, store keeping, laboratory, warehousing and pest control. The first day covered a theoretical Training Program presented by DETIA DEGESCH s regional sales Manager Mr. Günter Engel. All topics were touched from preparing a fumigation till the moment when the treated area and commodity will be declared safe again. The program comprised the chemical and physical properties of Phosphine, fields of application, safe practice in handling and application of DETIA DEGESCH fumigants. Finally the safety recommendations took up a wide scope. On the second day practical test fumigations (small stacks of loosely piled grain surrounded by bagged wheat ) were carried through. This took place in a near by located hangar under supervison of Mr. Kadour a licenced local fumigator. Individual teams took care about the stacks to be treated with Phostoxin Pellets and the participants did all necessary work to make the volume gastight and prepared a checklist for applicating cating the fumigant. Both days were accompanied by keen discussions and a lot of questions were asked The very successful training session ended the third day in a written test. 17 questions had to be answered and the result demonstrated that the participants were very much interested and engaged to learn this modern technology of stored product protection. Page 7
Review of existing active ingredients dossiers for rodenticides under the EU Biocidal Products Directive (EU/98/8) st In AGROW No. 464 (January 21 2005) p. 7 an article was published on Biocide supporters decline in EU. This article includes some facts on the EU review program of existing active ingredients under the biocidal products Directive (98/8), which are not correct. For example, Aluminium phosphide has not failed the initial stages of the review, but the dossier has on the contrary been accepted as complete, is still supported by our company and will be further evaluated by the German Competent Authority. Imprint: Publisher: Editorship: GmbH Jonny Allegra Günter Engel The support for Magnesium phosphide as active ingredient for Rodenticides was withdrawn; therefore its rodenticidal use in Biocides will not be possible any longer. All other kinds of use, e.g. as fumigant for stored foodstuffs, are still allowed since we pursue this part of the notification. The dossier will be submitted on time before the deadline (01.11.2005-30.04.2006). The above-mentioned article contains a table on accepted rodenticide dossiers in EU biocides review that is also not completely correct. Latest ECB publication (European Chemical Bureau), July 2005, under http://ecb.jrc.it/biocides/legislation Contakt: marketing@detia-degesch.de export@detia-degesch.de Tel.: +49 / 6201 / 708-0 Fax: +49 / 6201 / 708-402 Page 8