INCREASING HEATING RATE AND DECREASING DISINFESTATION TEMPERATURE FOR MORE AFFORDABLE HEAT DISINFESTATION OF GRAIN.

Serious problems have been identified for the future of chemical methods of grain disinfestation. Methyl bromide, which has been a very valuable fumigant for rapid disinfestation is becoming increasingly costly and is being phased out under the Montreal Protocol. Phosphine fumigation is slow, progressively being subjected to regulatory restrictions and suffering from growing amounts of insect resistance. Moreover, pesticide residues in grain are becoming increasingly unacceptable to markets in general and resistance to important protectants is widespread. Compared to the use of chemical methods, heat disinfestation has the potential for high market acceptance by being residue free. It is also, potentially, at least as rapid as methyl bromide fumigation. Due to its versatility of scale, it could be used to disinfest farm-stored grain before delivery or meet the most urgent shipping schedule by being used in-line to treat large tonnages at export terminals. In the past, the use of heat disinfestation has been seriously constrained by its high capital and running costs in the face of competing cheap chemical alternatives. Therefore, adoption of heat disinfestation depends to a large part on a significant reduction in th