Postharvest management of New Zealand flower thrips on export apricots using ethyl formate

摘要

New Zealand flower thrips (NZFT, Thrips obscuratus) is the most abundant pest on New Zealand apricots at harvest and is a quarantine pest for apricot export markets. Ethyl formate (EF) is a Generally Recognised As Safe (GRAS) compound being investigated as a postharvest fumigant. This study determined the efficacy of EF+C02 (Vapormate~(TM)) treatments against NZFT and their impact on apricot fruit quality in shipping containers. NZFT adults and larvae on apricots were treated in field bins of apricots in a 28.2 m3 refrigerated shipping container at 15°C for 1 h with 0.8-1.0% EF+C02 or 1.0-1.2% EF+C02 in Hawke's Bay and Central Otago, respectively. In Hawke's Bay the treatments resulted in 100% mortality of NZFT adults and larvae. In Central Otago,the treatments resulted in 100% mortality of NZFT adults and 98-100% larval mortality. Export grade apricot cultivars expressed no adverse effects on quality to this concentration of EF+C02.