Miller Magazine Issue: 112 April 2019

100 APRIL 2019 “Phosphine and heat are applied at different types of facilities, which means that heat treatment cannot be considered as an actual replacement of phosphine. Heat is applied in empty storage and processing facilities, while phosphine is usually applied for product disinfestation. Still, the data underline the importance of heat to kill insect populations. Hence, heat and phosphine may not be that far away in terms of their target facilities and heat treatment can be used by the industry as an alternative method for the control of stored product insects that are resistant to phosphine.” Currently, heat is one of the most widely adop- ted methyl bromide alternatives for the control of post-harvest insects in durable agricultural commo- dities. Heat treatment is an environmentally-friend- ly technology that can be used in conjunction with chemical and non-chemical methods for insect ma- nagement (Subramanyam et al., 2011). Heat treat- ment is based on the application of high tempera- tures (between 50 and 60 oC) for a relatively short time period (24-36 hours or even shorter periods) for the control of various stored product insects without affecting product quality or the structures that are heated (Mahroof et al., 2003a; Wang et al., 2006). Heat equipment is based on gas, electric or ste- am heaters which are used to gradually increase air temperature to the desired levels (Mahroof and Sub- ramanyam, 2006). There are published papers on the successful use of elevated temperatures against stored-product insects, with different susceptibility levels to conventional control methods (Boina and Subramanyam, 2004; Yu et al., 2011; Agrafioti et al., 2019). Moreover, the temperature can be recorded, by using wireless sensors, providing an algorithm that can give predictions of the success of the treat- ment in a given facility and for given target species and life stages. Heat as a phosphine resistance breaker: Is this feasible? C. G. Athanassiou Laboratory of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology Department of Agriculture, Crop Production and Rural Environment University of Thessaly, Greece