Electronic sensors for monitoring phosphine fumigations have become available for use in moving railcar within the last decade. These technologies were deployed to help the grain industry understand current railcar fumigation performances and consider improved practices. Phosphine concentrations and temperature fluctuations were monitored during 24 separate railcar fumigation events that were carried out in moving freight railcars during 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2023 at two locations using portable gas sensing devices. The efficacies of the fumigation were predicted by calculating a Concentration & lowast;Time (Conc & lowast;T) to summarize each trial which were classified as strong (Conc & lowast;T > 25,000 ppm & lowast;hr), mid (15,000 to 25,000 ppm & lowast;hr), or weak (<15,000 ppm & lowast;hr), which were based on prior fumigation studies using adult phosphine resistant insects. We achieved mid or strong fumigations in about 63% of the railcars tested, yet 37% of the railcars were weak and were predicted to result in low control of phosphine resistant strains. The lower Conc & lowast;T values could have resulted from leaky railcars or poor railcar sealing practices. We tested fumigation efficacies at two different facilities (A and B). Facility B was used for one year and tended to have weak fumigations. Facility A was used in three years. Although, fumigation efficacies at A started weak, they improved over time because the staff took additional steps to seal the railcars better, such as tarping the doors to reduce leakage. Temperature data was collected during all fumigations monitoring events and it was correlated to changes in phosphine concentration. Daily changes in temperature had a secondary effect on the phosphine concentration and could have resulted in sublethal doses of phosphine at various times during the transit fumigations. Overall, our study shows that real-time fumigation monitoring is a valuable tool to determine the actual fumigation effectiveness during transit, which can reduce post-harvest losses during transit.

Theocolax elegans (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) is a potential postharvest biocontrol agent whose host range includes Sitophilus oryzae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and Rhyzopertha dominica (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae). Both host species are cosmopolitan and destructive pests of bulk wheat. In addition, either species could be used when mass rearing T. elegans. The Hopkins-Host Selection principle suggests the natal host environment (e.g., the habitat in which a wasp emerges from a pupa) may influence the semiochemicals an organism utilizes when foraging for oviposition sites. Thus, later efficacy may be impaired if important semiochemicals are lost from the foraging repertoire of T. elegans. In order to investigate the impact of natal host environment on the behavioral response of T. elegans to potential hosts, we reared T. elegans on either S. oryzae or R. dominica for multiple generations. We then evaluated the orientation and taxis of T. elegans to six treatments: S. oryzae, R. dominica, damaged grain + S. oryzae, damaged grain + R. dominica, damaged grain + insects from the natal environment, or an undamaged control. We found T. elegans reared on R. dominica most preferred damaged grain from R. dominica in a four-way olfactometer, which was 4.2-fold more often chosen than S. oryzae individuals alone. Treatments containing R. dominica were differentiated from others based on headspace volatiles while S. oryzaeinfested grain generally overlapped with uninfested grain. Both rearing host and subsequent foraging host affected efficacy of T. elegans released in a pilot-scale elevator. Wasps appeared most effective in suppressing grain damage by 35-38 % when reared on R. dominica and foraging for R. dominica compared to S. oryzae-reared wasps that only reduced damage by 1-18 %. Sitophilus oryzae-reared wasps only effectively foraged on hosts up to 0.5 m, while R. dominica-reared wasps foraged successfully up to 4 m. Overall, we found that the natal host and chemical cues significantly affected taxis and foraging by T. elegans, suggesting that careful attention should be paid to the mass rearing procedure for this parasitoid.

Supplemental tables with single seed volume, weight, and density data for sorghum samples.

Background/Objectives: Phosphine resistance in insects involves a complex interplay of genetic and physiological factors, which are often poorly understood. Resistance to high concentrations of phosphine worldwide poses a formidable challenge for stored-product pest management and affects global food security. Understanding the genetic basis of phosphine resistance in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, is urgent because of the species’ status as a notorious insect pest of stored grains and their resistance to major classes of insecticides. In this study, we take advantage of T. castaneum as a model species for biological and genetic studies. Methods: To tease apart genetic mutations and the differential expression of genes responding to phosphine intoxication, we set up 16 different exposure tests to compare the effects of phosphine dose, exposure time, and sampling time on gene expression in phosphine-susceptible and -resistant T. castaneum adults. Results: We examined the enrichment of gene ontology terms in genes that were differentially expressed and found that the data further distinguished differences in gene expression by insect strain, phosphine dose, exposure time, and recovery from phosphine exposure. The gene-encoding cytochrome P450 9e2 was expressed more in phosphine-resistant compared to phosphine-susceptible insects under all treatment conditions and was significantly higher in expression in resistant insects that were sampled after short or long phosphine exposures. Therefore, this gene may serve as a new phosphine resistance marker in T. castaneum and can further be utilized as a diagnostic tool for resistance detection. Conclusions: These data are important to understand the complex molecular changes in insects that have reduced sensitivity to phosphine to develop new monitoring and resistance prevention strategies.

Background and ObjectivesFlour color changes caused by contamination like fungal-damaged kernels can be determined by several methods, but many existing methods are time-consuming and require specialized training. In this study, a commercial flatbed scanner was used to quickly detect and quantify the abundance of black specks derived from smutty grains in wheat flour samples.FindingsOur method easily classified flour samples into several categories, as clean flour, marginally clean, or contaminated, by using varied levels of %area-smut. From our set of calibration flour samples, clean flour samples were located below 0.025% area-smut. Marginal flours were defined as flours having %area-smut from 0.025% to 0.050%. Notably, contaminated flour had %area-smut greater than 0.05%. Moreover, the flour color brightness parameter (L) was determined using the scanner and was found to be inversely related to the %area-smut. In addition, the number of smutty seeds manually detected in 250 g whole-grain samples was correlated to the %area-smut found in the flour.ConclusionsTherefore, this method represents a rapid and reliable way to distinguish clean flour from flour milled from wheat containing various levels of smut contamination.Significance and NoveltyThis method was developed and validated using wheat samples collected from the field and contained a range of smut contamination. Although specks could easily be detected and counted, we found that speck counts varied with scanner resolution setting. Therefore, an alternate parameter referred to as "%area-smut" was calculated and resulted in more consistent values per sample regardless of scanner resolution. Additionally, the flour color parameter, L*, was determined for each scanned image using imaging processing software. This color parameter, L*, was well correlated with those measured with a reference hand-held colorimeter.

Highlights A steady state, laminar CFD model was developed to simulate the airflow inside an aerosol exposure chamber. The CFD model predicted the droplet tracks and deposition of various sizes of aerosol droplets. Larger aerosol droplets had higher deposition efficiency. A Higher flow rate, but still within the laminar flow regime, caused lower deposition efficiency for all droplet sizes. Abstract. Aerosol insecticides (e.g., pyrethrin) are widely used for the control of stored products insects inside food facilities. To optimize pyrethrin aerosol application, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to predict airflow and aerosol transport inside a vertical flow aerosol exposure chamber operated under laminar flow conditions. A discrete phase model in ANSYS FLUENT 2021 R1 was developed, and simulations were conducted to track pyrethrin droplets of various diameters (0.1 to 20 µm) and determine their deposition onto Petri dishes located near the center of the chamber. The deposition efficiency of the different aerosol droplet sizes and the effect of two flow rates (5 × 10 -4 m 3 s -1 and 4 × 10 -4 m 3 s -1 ) on deposition efficiency were determined. The results showed that the predicted deposition of pyrethrin aerosol increased with increasing droplet size, largely due to inertial and gravitational effects. Deposition efficiencies decreased with the higher flow rate—with 0.1% to 96.6% predicted deposition efficiencies for the low flow rate and 0.1% to 93.8% for the high flow rate. Results of this study can be used to improve aerosol application methods for stored product insect control. Keywords: Aerosol deposition, Aerosol insecticide, Computational fluid dynamics, Confused flour beetle, Deposition efficiency, Discrete phase model, Numerical simulation, Particle tracking, Pyrethrins, Stored product insect.

. Aerosol insecticides (e.g., pyrethrin) are widely used for the control of stored products insects inside food facilities. To optimize pyrethrin aerosol application, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to predict airflow and aerosol transport inside a vertical flow aerosol exposure chamber operated under laminar flow conditions. A discrete phase model in ANSYS FLUENT 2021 R1 was developed, and simulations were conducted to track pyrethrin droplets of various diameters (0.1 to 20 mu m) and determine their deposition onto Petri dishes located near the center of the chamber. The deposition efficiency of the different aerosol droplet sizes and the effect of two flow rates (5 x 10-4 m3 s-1 and 4 x 10-4 m3 s-1) on deposition efficiency were determined. The results showed that the predicted deposition of pyrethrin aerosol increased with increasing droplet size, largely due to inertial and gravitational effects. Deposition efficiencies decreased with the higher flow rate-with 0.1% to 96.6% predicted deposition efficiencies for the low flow rate and 0.1% to 93.8% for the high flow rate. Results of this study can be used to improve aerosol application methods for stored product insect control.

Studies have investigated the potential of using farmed insects in animal feeds; however, little research has been done using wild-caught insects for this purpose. Concerns about inadequate quantities collected, environmental impacts, and the spread of pathogens contribute to the preferred utilization of farmed insects. Nevertheless, by harvesting certain pest species from intensified agricultural operations, producers could provide their animals with affordable and sustainable protein sources while also reducing pest populations. This study explores the possibility of collecting large quantities of pest flies from livestock operations and analyzes the flies' nutritional content, potential pathogen load, and various disinfection methods. Using a newly designed mass collection-trapping device, we collected 5 kg of biomass over 13 wk, primarily house flies, from a poultry facility. While a substantial number of pests were removed from the environment, there was no reduction in the fly population. Short-read sequencing was used to compare the bacterial communities carried by flies from differing source populations, and the bacterial species present in the fly samples varied based on farm type and collection time. Drying and milling the wild-caught flies as well as applying an additional heat treatment significantly reduced the number of culturable bacteria present in or on the flies, though their pathogenicity remains unknown. Importantly, these disinfection methods did not affect the nutritional value of the processed flies. Further research is necessary to fully assess the safety and viability of integrating wild-caught insects into livestock feed; however, these data show promising results in favor of such a system.

Insects are a promising source of high-quality protein, and the insect farming industry will lead to higher sustainability when it overcomes scaling up, cost effectiveness, and automation. In contrast to insect farming (raising and breeding insects as livestock), wild insect harvesting (collecting agricultural insect pests), may constitute a simple sustainable animal protein supplementation strategy. For wild harvest to be successful sufficient insect biomass needs to be collected while simultaneously avoiding the collection of nontarget insects. We assessed the performance of the USDA Biomass Harvest Trap (USDA-BHT) device to collect flying insect biomass and as a mosquito surveillance tool. The USDA-BHT device was compared to other suction traps commonly used for mosquito surveillance (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) light traps, Encephalitis virus surveillance traps, and Biogents Sentinel traps). The insect biomass harvested in the USDA-BHT was statistically higher than the one harvested in the other traps, however the mosquito collections between traps were not statistically significantly different. The USDA-BHT collected some beneficial insects, although it was observed that their collection was minimized at night. These findings coupled with the fact that sorting time to separate the mosquitoes from the other collected insects was significantly longer for the USDA-BHT, indicate that the use of this device for insect biomass collection conflicts with its use as an efficient mosquito surveillance tool. Nevertheless, the device efficiently collected insect biomass, and thus can be used to generate an alternative protein source for animal feed.

The demand for animal protein grows as the human population increases. Technological and genetic advances in traditional animal agriculture will not produce enough protein to meet future needs without significant innovations such as the use of insects as protein sources. Insect farming is growing insects, whereas insect harvesting is collecting insects from their natural habitats to produce high-quality protein for animal feed or human food. Intensive agricultural environments produce tremendous quantities of pestiferous insects and with the right harvest technologies these insects can be used as a protein supplement in traditional animal daily rations. An avenue to exploit these insects is to use traps such as the United States Department of Agriculture-Biomass Harvest Trap (USDA-BHT) to efficiently attract, harvest, and store insects from naturally abundant agricultural settings. The modular design allows for a low cost, easy to build and fix device that is user friendly and has customizable attractants to target various pest species. Although insect harvesting faces substantial challenges, including insect biomass quantity, seasonal abundance and preservation, food safety, and economic and nutritional evaluation, the potential for utilizing these pests for protein shows tremendous promise. In this forum, insect harvesting is discussed, including its potential, limitations, challenges, and research needs. In addition, the use of a mass trapping device is discussed as a tool to increase the biomass of insects collected from the environment.

A recent study showed the potential of the DA Perten 7200 NIR Spectrometer in detecting chlorpyrifos-methyl pesticide residue in rough, brown, and milled rice. However, this instrument is still lab-based and generally suited for point-of-sale testing. To provide a field-deployable version of this technique, an existing light emitting diode (LED)-based instrument that provides discrete NIR wavelength illumination and reflectance spectra over the range of 850–1550 nm was tested. Spectra were collected from rough, brown, and milled rice at different pesticide concentrations and analyzed for quantitative and qualitative measurement using partial least squares regression (PLS) and discriminant analysis (DA). Simulations for two LED-based instruments were also evaluated using corresponding segments of spectra from the DA7200 to represent LED illumination. For the simulation of the existing LED-based instrument (LEDPrototype1) fitted with 850, 910, 940, 970, 1070, 1200, 1300, 1450, and 1550 nm LED wavelengths, resulting R2 ranged from 0.52 to 0.71, and the correct classification was 70.4% to 100%. The simulation of a second LED instrument (LEDPrototype2) fitted with 980, 1050, 1200, 1300, 1450, 1550, 1600, and 1650 nm LED wavelengths showed R2 of 0.59 to 0.82 and correct classifications of 66% to 100%. These LED wavelengths were selected based on the significant wavelength regions from the PLS regression coefficients of DA7200 and the commercial availability of LED wavelengths. Results showed that it is possible to use a multi-spectral LED-based instrument to detect varying levels of chlorpyrifos-methyl pesticide residue in rough, brown, and milled rice.

BACKGROUNDLong-lasting insecticide-incorporated netting (LLIN) has successfully been used to impair mobility and prevent infestation of stored grain by stored product beetles. Understanding how to integrate LLIN with existing integrated pest management (IPM) tactics, such as phosphine fumigation, can further enhance IPM programs.RESULTSWe used three 110 metric tons (MT) capacity grain bins, and in each, 60 perforated buckets (e.g., miniature silos) were filled with 500 g of uninfested wheat. Miniature silos were protected by LLIN (0.3% alpha-cypermethrin, Carifend (R), BASF), positive control (without insecticide), or negative control (no netting). Half of each treatment was randomly assigned to phosphine fumigation treatment, while the remainder were not fumigated. Monthly samples of 100 g of grain from four silos from each treatment in four blocks from three-grain bins were taken between June and October both in 2022 and 2023. We determined whether phosphine fumigation could be reduced with the use of LLIN over the season. Overall, we found that silos protected with LLIN showed insect dispersal and progeny production that was reduced by 83-99% and 89-99%, respectively, compared with insecticide-free netting and no-netting controls. Additionally, damage in silos was reduced by 37-99% compared with controls. Importantly, the total number of fumigations could be reduced by 68-91% by using LLIN compared with controls.CONCLUSIONOur study demonstrates that LLIN is consistently effective for existing pest management tactics such as phosphine fumigation in bulk storage structures. (c) 2024 Society of Chemical Industry. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA. This study assessed whether insecticide netting enhances fumigation for the protection against stored product insects. Generally, the use of insecticide netting reduced pest infestation, and progeny production and reduced fumigation by 68-91% compared with controls, suggesting insecticide netting can successfully be combined with bulk storage to improve IPM. image

The use of insects as animal feed has the potential to be a green revolution for animal agriculture as insects are a rich source of high-quality protein. Insect farming must overcome challenges such as product affordability and scalability before it can be widely incorporated as animal feed. An alternative is to harvest insect pests from the environment using mass trapping devices and use them as animal feed. For example, intensive agricultural environments generate large quantities of pestiferous insects and with the right harvest technologies, these insects can be used as a protein supplement in traditional animal daily rations. Most insect trapping devices are limited by the biomass they can collect. In that context, and with the goal of using wild collected insects as animal feed, the United States Department of Agriculture-Biomass Harvest Trap (USDA-BHT) was designed and built. The USDA-BHT is a valuable mass trapping device developed to efficiently attract, harvest, and store flying insects from naturally abundant agricultural settings. The trap offers a modular design with adjustable capabilities, and it is an inexpensive device that can easily be built with commonly available parts and tools. The USDA-BHT is also user-friendly and has customizable attractants to target various pest species.

BACKGROUND During the last decade, the evaluation of certain behavioral attributes has been utilized as an indicator of resistance to phosphine. In this context, an underappreciated challenge may be the development of behavioral traits that are related with resistance to phosphine such as the movement to refugia and recovery of stored product insects after short exposures. Thus, the aim of the current study was to track the movement of phosphine-resistant and -susceptible adults of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), which is a major pest of stored products, after brief exposures to phosphine. Exposures were followed for extended intervals to assess the recovery patterns, and how those patterns are related to known resistance to phosphine. A video-tracking procedure coupled with Ethovision software was used to assess movement after exposure. RESULTS Overall, we found baseline movement was less for phosphine-resistant T. castaneum, suggesting resistance comes at a considerable fitness cost. In the presence of phosphine (1000 or 3000 ppm), there was a much greater reduction in movement for phosphine-susceptible than phosphine-resistant T. castaneum adults immediately after brief 5-min exposures. Twenty-four hours later, these effects were more variable and less apparent regardless of the susceptibility level. CONCLUSIONS The initial knockdown associated with successful fumigation may just be a temporary state whereafter insects shortly resume movement and may be able to seek out refugia from phosphine, thereby promoting the development of resistance. Our results strengthen a growing consensus that it is the speed to knockdown that truly matters with quick knockdown indicating slow recovery, and a reduced likelihood for the occurrence of resistance. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Highlights The conductance mill successfully detected seeds infested with large larvae, over 80% in barley and wheat. Barley seeds, infested with medium larvae, were detected at a lower rate than wheat; ~40% for barley vs. ~65% for wheat. The feed-rate of barley samples was slower than the wheat and the resulting ground barley material contained higher fractions of large particles, over #20 mesh sieve. Abstract. A laboratory mill was developed by Pearson and Brabec (2007) which typically detects 50% to 80% of infested kernels of wheat, brown rice, or popcorn. Barley is another cereal grain of similar size as wheat. Barley is normally sold with its hull attached to the seed, which makes detection of insect infestations more difficult. The objective of this study was to determine the potential of using the conductance mill to detect barley kernels infested by the lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica (F.), in comparison to detection in wheat. As in previous studies, these experiments found that the conductance mill could detect infested kernels of wheat containing large and medium larvae at a rate of ~90% and ~65%, respectively. For barley, the detection of infested kernels was over ~80% for large larvae and ~40% for medium larvae. Also, we showed that adults that were freely moving throughout the grain mass could also be detected. Approximately ~65% of the adults were detected in wheat while that percentage was reduced to ~35% in barley. The hull on the barley seems to function as an insulator during the conductance measurement and thus reduces detections. Also, the hull seems to affect the feed rate of material through the mill. The feed-rate for wheat was 500 g in 50 s, while the feed-rate for barley was 500 g in ~80 s. Despite these pitfalls, the conductance mill could still be considered as a useful tool with inspecting barley sample, because there was significant detection of insects in the samples and 1000 g sample of barley could be processed in ~4 min. Keywords: Barley, Detection, Rhyzopertha dominica, Sampling, Wheat, X-ray.

Aerosol insecticides are widely used in stored product insect management programs in food facilities. Previous research has shown spatial variation in aerosol efficacy within facilities, but information on how spatial patterns of aerosol droplet concentration, size distribution, dispersal, and deposition contribute to this variation in efficacy is limited. This study involved two aerosol application systems: a high-pressure cylinder containing TurboCide Py-75® with pyriproxyfen IGR (ChemTech Ltd., Des Moines, IA, USA) and a hand-held fogger containing Pyrocide 100® (MGK, Minneapolis, MN, USA) with Diacon II which contains methoprene IGR (Wellmark, Schaumburg, IL, USA). These systems were used at single or multiple application locations. The spray trials were conducted in a small-scale flour mill, Hall Ross Flour Mill (Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA). The droplet size distributions were monitored at multiple positions within the room using nine aerodynamic particle sizing (APS, TSI Incorp, Shoreview, MN, USA) instruments. The APS data collected over the treatment period were summarized into a mass concentration index (MCI), which ranged from 155 to 2549 mg/m3 for Turbocide and 235–5658 mg/m3 for Pyrocide. A second parameter called the Deposition Index (Dep.Idx) was derived to estimate potential insecticide depositions on the floor and has units of g/m2. The Dep.Idx was below 5.3 g/m2 for most Turbocide applications, while the Dep.Idx was below 8.4 g/m2 for most Pyrocide applications. The MCI and Dep.Idx values varied with APS position and spray application location, with proximity to the aerosol application location and degree of obstruction between the release point and APS position contributing to this variation. We assessed the relationship between aerosol droplet parameters and insect efficacy using Tribolium confusum Jacqueline DuVal, the confused flour beetle. The adults were treated directly, while the larvae were treated two weeks later during the residual test (previously published). For Turbocide, efficacy against adults increased with MCI and Dep.Idx values, but for residual efficacy of the IGR, efficacy was high at all aerosol droplet values, so no relationship was apparent. In contrast, the relationship between Pyrocide deposition and adult insect efficacy was highly variable. But with larval insect efficacy, residual larvae control was directly related to increases in Pyrocide MCI and Dep.Idx. Contour plots of Dep.Idx values were developed, which could be used to predict areas of the mill that are not receiving an adequate application rate, and this could be used to develop more effective application strategies for aerosol insecticides in food facilities.

Methoprene is an insect growth regulator (IGR), which acts on the juvenile stages of insects and is used as pest control method in food processing facilities. A chemical reference method was developed to quantitate aerosol deposition of methoprene using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, HPLC. The method starts with placing 2.5 g (similar to 1 level tsp) flour in the opened Petri-dish (150 mm x 15 mm) as an absorber and placing the Petri dish on the floor and in the facility treated with pesticide aerosol. After treatment, the dishes were collected and analyzed with HPLC. The flour from each dish was emptied into a 50 mL centrifuge tube along with 40 mL of methanol and mixed. The samples were then centrifuged and loaded on the HPLC. The HPLC method could detect methoprene concentrations down to 0.2 mu g/mL. In validation test, unknown samples matched the real spray times with a SE from 0.1 to 0.8. Historic methods used 120 min mixing time and 48 h holding time. It was found that a mixing time of 30 min and 0 holding time was sufficient to obtain greater than 90% recovery. The objective of this study was to develop a standard chemical methodology to quantify the amount of methoprene insecticide deposited on floors and surfaces when applied from compressed cylinders as an aerosol insecticide. The HPLC method developed explored the impact of flour, mixing, holding, and processing times on methoprene recovery. The HPLC method developed in this study will provide pesticide applicators a method to accurately determine product deposition and to evaluate pesticide distributions throughout facilities and determine areas which may require additional treatment.

HighlightsDurum wheat kernels were examined using flatbed scanner in transmission mode.Image processing routines were written to determine the %chalkiness per kernel.The distribution of %chalkiness uniquely described market samples.Abstract. The vitreousness of durum samples is regarded by the worldwide wheat industry as an important quality factor for durum shipments. One issue with grading durum occurs on occasional years of unfavorable harvest conditions which result in the kernel outer bran becoming cloudy. Imaging scanners can use either reflective or transmitted lighting. All scanned images of our durum samples were collected using transmissive lighting. Although, “vitreousness” is the usual term applied to durum samples, for this study, “chalkiness” or the inverse property was featured.Both typical and bleached durum kernels were imaged and analyzed. Bleaching seeds has aided grain inspector to visually evaluate the kernels. With computer imaging analysis of bleached kernels, the magnitude of %chalk was significantly attenuated with bleaching verses typical kernels. Still, discrimination of medium and highly chalky kernels was possible with both the typical and bleached seeds.Seed orientation was a source of measurement variability. Seeds were manually and carefully oriented into two distinctly different positions. At the critical lower levels of detection, crease-down orientation may indicate a 100% vitreous seed with the two-dimension view of the scanner, but then 11 of 25 seeds measured some amount of chalkiness when the seed was turned on its side. Furthermore, for seeds with higher amounts of chalkiness, over half of those seeds measured 30% differences.Several durum market samples were provided by Federal Grain Inspection Service and contained levels of non-vitreous seeds for each of three sub-classes of durum: 80%, 65%, 50% vitreous seed. The samples were imaged and analyzed, and chalkiness distributions were plotted. These plots characterize the %chalk for the three classes of wheat. The imaging methods worked satisfactorily for the high and medium levels %chalk per kernel. But the very-low level of chalkiness per kernel proved to be more challenging and was not consistent. Keywords: Grain inspection, HVAC (hard and vitreous kernels of amber color), Image analysis, Vitreousness.

Background and Objectives The alkali spreading value (ASV) of rice is a widely measured quality parameter and accepted indicator of gelatinization temperature (GT) class. However, the alkali test, developed in 1958, is labor intensive and subjective. Better methods to measure ASV and GT, for single kernel and bulk rice would provide an important tool to determine the effects of individual kernels on end-use quality and rice with desired cooking qualities. An instrument developed by the USDA-ARS and a commercially available near infrared (NIR) instrument were evaluated for determining ASV and classification of intermediate and low GT levels for single kernel and bulk milled rice, respectively. Findings Quantitative prediction of ASV scores (2-7) demonstrated the potential of NIR spectroscopy for screening with a standard error of prediction for validation samples ranging from 0.91 to 1.39 for the single kernel NIR instrument, and from 0.97 to 1.19 for the commercial instrument. GT categorization into intermediate and low values, using ASV scores, showed 82.4% and 85.0% correct classification using 1 and 30-single kernel average calibration models, respectively. GT was correctly classified (93.6%-84.4%) using a commercial NIR instrument. Conclusion NIR spectroscopy has potential for rough screening of ASV and for two-category GT rice classification. Significance and Novelty Considering that NIR spectroscopy has been proven to be applicable for other quality parameters, such as rice starch content and quality, protein content, and milling degree, the addition of calibrations for ASV as a predictor of GT class will be highly beneficial while not requiring additional resources. The rapid and nondestructive classification of individual kernels may also enable physical segregation of individual kernels for use by rice researchers and/or industry for additional studies on kernels with specific quality parameters and for determining the extent of variant kernels in a milled rice lot that could affect end use quality. Future studies on the use of NIR spectroscopy for brown rice should be evaluated so that quality could be assessed, while maintaining seed viability, and then used in field studies.

Introduction Bulk railcars are a common method of moving commodities in the USA. Allowances are given for the practice of treating railcars with fumigates during transit because the routes are limited access and not on public roads. Recent technology has become available for monitoring phosphine gas (PH 3 ) fumigation on railcars which logs the phosphine concentration and temperature of the test point in the railcars. Materials and Methods Two hopper bottom railcar shipments of corn grit were monitored for phosphine during 8-day transit from mill to processor. Several phosphine-sensing units were used in each railcar and spaced across the top layer. Mathematical modeling of the railcar fumigation was carried out using computational fluid dynamic software. Because access to lower depths in the railcar was not available, supplement experiments were performed with small columns of corn grits (2.5 m height x 0.55 m diameter) to test for phosphine at greater depths. Also, in the grain columns, bioassays of both phosphine susceptible and resistant, adult Rhyzopertha dominica (F.), lesser grain borer, and Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), red flour beetle, were included at the 0 cm, 25 cm, and 60 cm below the surface. Results The phosphine concentrations in the railcar headspace varied with time with phosphine spiking over 1600 ppm and gradually settling to over 300 ppm at the end of the 8 days. Total gas dosage was estimated as concentration*time (CT) over the 8 days as 115,000 and 125,000 ppm*h at the top of each railcar. The supplement grain column fumigation tests found significant phosphine penetration into the column at 2 m depth with ~380 ppm after 2 days which reduced to ~260 ppm after 8 days, and all insects, at all locations, were dead after 8 days. The CFD simulation models were shown to provide estimates of the phosphine concentration and distribution which matched well with the observed data, validating the CFD approach as a useful tool. Discussion The simulation models were shown to provide estimates of the phosphine concentration and distribution which matched well the observed data, validating the CFD approach as an efficient tool for future planning and analysis of similar fumigations.