Detection of stored product pests by SPME-CGC

M PATRICIA JUAREZ; M LUCIANA VILLAVERDE; NICOLÁS PEDRINI; SERGIO J MIJAILOVSKY; JUAN R. GIROTTI

Rosario, Argentina

Conferencia; Primera Conferencia Latinoamericana - International Conference on Cereals and Cereal Products Quality and Safety; 2007

International Conference on Cereals and Cereal Products Quality and Safety

DETECTION OF STORED PRODUCT PESTS BY SPME-CGC Juárez M.P., Villaverde M.L., Pedrini N., Mijailovsky S. and Girotti, J.R. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata (CONICET-UNLP), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, calles 60 y 120 1° piso, CP 1900, La Plata, Argentina. mjuarez@isis.unlp.edu.ar Keywords: Tribolium castaneum, Ulomoides dermestoides, benzoquinone, SPME-CGC. Introduction The red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), is a common pest affecting the storage, handling, and processing of grain-based products. Tenebrionids use prothoracic and abdominal glands to produce specific quinone-containing defensive secretions with repellent and irritant properties against predators. They also contaminate and confer unpleasant organoleptic properties to the material they feed on. Methyl- 1,4 benzoquinone (MBQ), ethyl- 1,4 benzoquinone (EBQ) and 1-pentadecene (C15:1) are the major components of the defensive volatile blend of T. castaneum. Ulomoides dermestoides (Fairmaire) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) has been recently introduced in Argentina, showing potential ability to contaminate stored grains; no reports are available on their volatile organic compound (VOC) secretions. A number of analytical techniques has been applied to quantitate the unstable quinones as an indirect estimation of food product damage. Here we report the use of the solid phase microextraction (SPME) technique (Lord and Pawliszyn, 2000) for the collection of the VOC released by living beetles.