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November 18th 2011
NEW ULTRA LOW GRAIN STORE INCECTICIDE AND APPLICATION SYSTEM
“Mild, damp autumn weather has meant some growers struggling to achieve the optimum grain store conditions to avoid storage insect problems this year. We are getting anecdotal reports of infestations emerging, particularly from the eastern counties,” says the company’s director of sales Alastair Moore, who will be launching the Grain-Tect UVL system at Lamma 2012.
“The HGCA’s latest grain storage guide, launched in October, reminds growers the principal causes of spoilage in stored grain are fungi, insects and mites. Recent research has shown that some stored product insects and mites, as well as causing damage themselves, are able to carry fungal spores, including P. verrucosum which can produce the mycotoxin ochratoxin A.
“While keeping moisture content down below 18% helps to control fungal problems, stored product insects are specialised for grain storage and can breed at relatively low temperatures and moisture contents. If samples and pest traps are showing a problem – and just one insect in a 1kg sample can indicate a serious infestation – then growers should consider a pesticide treatment,” says Mr Moore.
The Grain-Tect system features a modern pyrethroid formulation with a synergistic partner applied at a rate of 40ml/tonne via an ultra low volume applicator. These applicators have a new generation pump designed to be easy to calibrate and use; as 500 tonnes of grain can be treated with each pack, the system is low labour input, says Mr Moore.
“Not only is it less labour intensive, Grain-Tect is also cost effective at around 80p/tonne and gives up to 12 months’ protection from crawling insects such as grain weevils, flour beetles, grain borers and bean weevils.”
Withholding period is also not an issue, says Mr Moore, as the maximum residue limit for deltamethrin, the principal active ingredient in Grain-Tect, is 2mg/kg; when applied at the recommended rate the residue level is 0.25mg/kg, eight times lower than the MRL.
“This means grain can be treated as it is loaded onto lorries, held for 24 hours to ensure any pests are killed and delivered the next day.”
For Lamma 2012, there is a new model of ultra low volume applicator available, capable of treating between five and 175 tonnes per hour. It features flow rate adjustment without the need to re-calibrate and is very user friendly.
