Thermal-death kinetics of the bark beetle (Dendroctonus armandi; Coleoptera: Scolytidae)

ABSTRACT

Data on thermal-death kinetics of bark beetles are essential to develop phytosanitary heat treatments for pine wood and pine wood packaging materials. Using a heating block system, effects of different heating rates between 44 and 50°C at 2°C intervals on destruction of Dendroctonus armandi adult insect were examined. Heat resistance of the insects was found to increase at low heating rates (0.1 or 0.5°C/min). Therefore, the thermal-death kinetics of the beetles were determined at a high heating rate of 5.0°C/min which simulated the rapid dielectric heating of wood products. Results showed that the thermal death curve of D. armandi followed a zero-order reaction kinetic model, indicating the heat destruction rate of the beetle at different treatment temperatures to be independent of their population size. The required thermal holding times to result in destruction of the entire population were 40, 8, 4, and 2 min at 44°C, 46°C, 48°C, and 50°C, respectively. The evaluated thermal-death kinetic data are useful in developing effective beetle elimination quarantine protocols for the wood. A 50°C −2 min heat treatment with a heating rate of ∼5°C/min can be effectively used for disinfesting bark wood materials.

KEYWORDS:

• Bark beetle
• thermal treatment
• heating rate
• thermal death kinetics
• pest quarantine

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Hong He, Hongxue Zhou, Teng Cheng, and Rui Li for their help in conducting experiments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was conducted in the College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Northwest A&F University, and supported by research grants from National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0401004) and General Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (31772031).