Atmospheric Cold Plasma (ACP) Treatment for Efficient Disinfestation of Cowpea Weevils (Callosobruchus maculatus)

Abstract

Understanding and preventing post-harvest losses are very crucial if we want to feed the world's growing population. Callosobruchus maculatus, also known as the "cowpea weevil," is a common pest in stored grains. This pest attacks stored grains, causing grain weight loss, nutritional value decline, quality deterioration, and seed viability and vigor to decline. Atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) is a novel treatment technology that produces an ionized gas containing reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, electrons, and free radicals, all of which are capable of killing microorganisms. It has the potential to disinfect stored grains and be a safer alternative to existing pesticides. The possibilities of ACP as a feasible pesticidal alternative were explored in this study. Using ionized gas from the ACP treatment system we see mortality rates of 82–92%, demonstrating that ACP is a viable treatment method for integrated pest management. Longer treatment periods (3 min) and higher voltages (70kV) had a substantial effect on the mortality and fertility rate of cowpea weevils (P<0.05). Fertility was lowered in mature adult female cowpea weevils and mortality increased at all three stages of life. Plasma process management is a modified atmospheric gas (65% O2, 30% N2, and 5% CO2), that can generate adequate toxicity to handle the range of insect lifecycle stages, that are disease vectors and pose difficulties for grain integrity in storage. The capacity to employ this technology to reduce storage pests and increase grain quality has the potential to revolutionize the agricultural industry.