Project Number: 5320-43000-014-16
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 28, 2007
End Date: Jan 31, 2010

Objective:
Determine the efficacy of hypobaric treatments (e.g., 13C, -15 mm Hg vacuum, and near 100% RH) to control fruit flies and other quarantine pests of tropical fruits. If successful, hypobaric treatments will be recommended for both pre-shipment and in-transition treatment approaches to ensure quarantine security against target fruit flies and other quarantine pests and to prolong shelflife of exported tropical commodities.

Approach:
Hypobaric chambers will be assembled by The University of Florida Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC) and tested to ensure they meet operational specifications, then TREC will test hypobaric treatment parameters to control Caribbean fruit fly in tropical fruit. Infestation, fruit holding, and mortality observations will be based on ARS-standardized methods. On completion tests at TREC, equipment will be shipped to ARS, Hilo, HI, where equipment becomes ARS property. ARS-Hilo will perform identical tests to determine the efficacy of hypobaric treatments to control Malaysian fruit fly, Mediterranean fruit fly, melon fly, and oriental fruit fly and other quarantine pests in tropical fruits, vegetables, and ornamentals. Documents SCA with University of Florida.