University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture scientists are studying
methods of eliminating insect pests from stored rice without using
pesticides.
Dr. Terry Siebenmorgen, professor of food science, and Derek
Schluterman, a recent graduate in biological engineering, worked with
Dr. Frank Arthur of the USDA Agricultural Research Service in
Manhattan, Kan., to investigate a means of killing insects in rice by
heating it with infrared energy.
“The rice industry has requested that we look at ways of controlling
insects without using chemical pesticides,” Siebenmorgen said. “It’s
also likely that consumers will increasingly demand foods on which no
pesticides are used.”
Arthur, an entomologist, said insects such as rice weevils, lesser
grain borers and Angumois grain moths are of particular concern to rice
producers and processors because they feed from the inside of rice
kernels. Rice weevils were used in the tests.
Infrared energy heats the rice to a temperature the insects cannot
survive, Siebenmorgen said. Using an infrared rice drying unit provided
by Catalytic Drying Technologies of Manhattan, Kan., and funding from
the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board, Siebenmorgen,
Schluterman and Arthur set out to determine the minimum
temperature necessary to kill the insects and the necessary infrared
intensity and exposure duration to achieve those temperatures within
the rice kernels.
To read more, please go to http://www.arkansasagnews.com/Publications/Agnews/agnews06-02.html