Traps with long-lasting insecticide-incorporated netting as a novel perimeter-based management tactic to intercept stored product insects around food facilities

Globally, $100 billion USD in postharvest commodities are lost due to insect feeding and damage. While there are a diverse range of tactics to control these insects and avoid infestations, these pests exist in the surrounding landscapes of food facilities and few tactics are designed to intercept insects prior to infestation. Historically, long-lasting insecticide netting (LLIN) has proved to be an effective tool to intercept mosquitoes and reduce the spread of malaria. Recently, LLIN has shown great potential for preventing infestations in commodities with widespread control of multiple stored product insect species. In this study, attract-and-kill-based interception traps containing 60 g of crimped wheat were deployed around six pilot and commercial food facilities in Kansas and Arkansas. These traps were augmented with insect pheromones, LLIN, both, or neither, to intercept insects before reaching the facility. The traps were deployed for 48 h with a total of 8–12 deployments. After the traps were collected, the crimped wheat was sieved for insects and the number and species of insect were recorded. The crimped wheat was then held for six weeks to check for progeny. Interception traps were highly effective around the perimeters of facilities–capturing approximately 3,600 individuals classified to 14 different stored product species. Traps with LLIN retained a significantly greater number of insects and fewer progeny were produced inside the trap. Future studies should evaluate the performance of this LLIN-, perimeter-based tactic with other control tactics to develop innovative and effective pest management programs.