The effectiveness of carbon dioxide and nitrogen on different developmental stages of cadra cautella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

The efficacy of co2 and n2 gases alone or in a mixture was tested against eggs,larvae,and pupae of the almond moth,cadra cautella,a major date fruit pest,under temperature regimes of 5°c and 25°c. our results indicated that exposing different stages to higher concentrations of co2 significantly affected egg hatchability,larval mortality,and pupal mortality as compared to 100% n2 gas,at both temperature regimes. application of co2 at lower doses (below 50%) did not give 100% mortality of any developmental stage even at longer exposure timings. however,treatments at higher doses (75 and 100% co2) were effective at 24 h and longer treatment duration. the application of 100% n2 did not effectively control c. cautella. of all the stages,the larvae of c. cautella were most susceptible to the gases. our results indicated that temperature has a significant effect on the efficacy of gases or their combinations tested after an exposure of 48 h and longer. based on current findings,we conclude that co2 gas is a good candidate for successful control of c. cautella immature stages under storage conditions and can be a potential alternative to highly toxic methyl bromide. © 2018,university of agriculture. all rights reserved.