Integrated Pest Management for Stored Grain: Potential Natural Biological Control by a Parasitoid Wasp Community.

Insect contamination of stored grain is a major concern for the grain industry. Phosphine is currently the standard fumigant used to control insect pests in stored grain. However, some species and populations of insects that infest stored grain exhibit resistance to this fumigant and consumers are concerned about pesticide residues.

Rapid Detection and Identification of Mycotoxigenic Fungi and Mycotoxins in Stored Wheat Grain.

This study aimed to assess the occurrence of toxigenic fungi and mycotoxin contamination in stored wheat grains by using advanced molecular and analytical techniques. A multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) strategy was established for rapid identification of mycotoxigenic fungi, and an improved analytical method was developed for simultaneous multi-mycotoxin determination in wheat grains by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) without the need for any clean-up. The optimized multiplex PCR method was highly specific in detecting fungal species containing species-specific and mycotoxin metabolic pathway genes.