Admixture of malathion and lindane with bagged maize

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Abstract
Summary: An experiment was done in Kenya to test several formulations of lindane and malathion dusts as protectants of bagged maize, with which they were mixed, against reinfestation (post-fumigation infestation) by store pests. The experiment was in the form of a 9 x 9 Latin square employing 162 bags. Sampling initially and after 4 and 5¼ months gave data on bag weight-losses, dust present per bag, numbers of adults of Tribolium castaneum (Hbst.), Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.), Cadra cautella (Wlk.) and Sitophilus oryzae (L.), and moisture-content changes.The dust weights (which were expected to be the most reliable measure of treatment efficacy) showed that there was very little difference between malathion admixed at 8, 4 and 2 parts per million. The other six treatments were far less satisfactory and all were significantly different from one another, with the following order of values: lindane at 6, 3 and 1·5 p.p.m., diatomite, kaolin and control. All the other data generally supported these results.The extreme importance in this experiment of cross-infestation from nearby stacks has been shown in the analysis and has been illustrated by plotting numbers of T. castaneum against dust-weight data. Interpretation of this curve has lent support to work with lindane and malathion published by E. A. Parkin in 1960.The results emphasise the significance of the contribution of grain and mould metabolism to the total bag weight-losses. Some estimates are made of the savings relevant to the admixture of malathion.