A research group led by Associate Professor Yoshiaki Hashimoto of the Institute of Nature and Human Activities, University of Hyogo (and Senior Researcher at the Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo Prefecture) has teamed up with "Wasabi Ingredients (AITC: Allyl), a safe insect repellent and bactericidal ingredient of natural origin. Isothiocyanate) ”has been shown to be effective as a smoker for hiari.
Fire ants, a specific alien organism that was confirmed to have invaded Japan for the first time from a container imported from China in May 2017 in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture and Kobe Port.Since then, as of April 5, the cases of confirmation and control have spread to 2020 prefectures (4 cases in total), and the number of cases where fire ant invasion is confirmed in warehouses in the inland area is increasing.
In order to prevent fire ants from becoming established in Japan, it is necessary to quickly fumigate the cargo that the fire ants have invaded inland, but there are concerns about health hazards and environmental pollution due to the chemical chemicals that have traditionally been used for fumigation. Since some fire ants require special equipment and protective masks, the challenge is to establish a simple and safe method for fumigating fire ants.
"Wasabi ingredient (AITC: allyl isothiocyanate)" was known to be a safe ingredient of natural origin with a strong insect repellent effect, but due to its high volatility and strong irritation, fumigation of container cargo etc. Was never used for.However, recently, a technique for microencapsulating wasabi components with a resin having pores has been established, and it has become possible to control the volatilization amount and sustained release of wasabi components.
Therefore, the research team verified the insecticidal effect of fire ant worker ants in a cardboard box by a simple fumigation method using pellets containing microencapsulated wasabi components and a gas barrier plastic bag.As a result of the experiment, it was found that the fire ants in the cardboard box can be completely killed by fumigating in a bag containing microencapsulated wasabi pellets for 24 hours.Furthermore, it was shown that the wasabi component gas effective for fumigation of fire ants can be retained for about 2 weeks.
The results of this research are important results showing how anyone can safely fumigate cargo anywhere and anywhere in the event of a case where fire ant-invaded container cargo is directly transported to an inland warehouse. It can be said that.
The wasabi component, which is also used in food, is a fumigant that can be used without worrying about the contamination of cargo by chemicals. It is expected to be used for such purposes.
