Biological control of stored product pests

Agricultural products are under constant attack by pest insects during on-farm storage, in large grain stores, during processing in mills and factories and in retail stores. Due to public concerns with respect to the use of pesticides, there is a growing market for environmentally friendly ways of pest control. This is especially true for ecological farming where the use of pesticides is very restricted. Therefore, we develop Biological Control measures for the control of stored product pests. Thereby pests are controlled by the release of their natural enemies. Currently, our research is focussed on parasitic wasps attacking pest beetles like the pteromalid wasp Lariophagus distinguendus, a natural enemy of the granary weevil Sitophilus granarius. In laboratory experiments, L. distinguendus females were able to locate hosts as deep as 4 m in the grain and suppressed population growth of granary weevils up to 94%. (see figure left: grain jar with weevils; right: grain jar with weevils and parasitoids). Currently, we develop methods for the on-site rearing and release of parasitic wasps in grain stores.