An environmentally friendly product capable of reducing - or eliminating - insect damage in stored wheat grain and seed is expected to save wheat producers millions of dollars annually. Trimming the storage loss costs also is expected to help hold down consumer prices on grain-based foods.

The product, named Spinosad, when used as a protectant for stored grains will represent a major cost-saving advance for wheat producers, said Subramanyam "Subi" Bhadriraju, a Kansas State University Research and Extension stored product entomologist.

"Grains are naturally attractive to insects and subject to infestation," said Bhadriraju, who is a professor in K-State's Department of Grain Science and Industry and the lead researcher for the new application of Spinosad.

While grain producers are typically schooled in best practices in crop production, pest management and environmental protection, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) follow up to the Food Quality Protection Act (1996) has meant that the pest management products traditionally registered for use on stored grains have been removed from the market over perceived safety concerns or are no longer effective because of development of insect resistance to these chemicals.

As grain producers face reductions in the number of effective products available, Bhadriraju looked to alternative products and methods that could have the potential to protect the harvested wheat crop in storage. He was drawn to Spinosad, an environmentally friendly insecticide derived from the fermentation products of a naturally-occurring soil bacterium. The product is manufactured by Dow AgroSciences LLC and was registered for crop use under the EPA's reduced risk pesticide program in 1997.

Bhadriraju wondered if the product would also work for stored wheat, and followed up with what has turned out to be a multi-year cooperative research effort between K-State, Dow AgroSciences, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Grain Marketing and Production Research Center, also in Manhattan, Kansas, Oklahoma State University, Purdue University and other U.S. collaborators.

These research efforts have proven Spinosad successful in preventing insect infestations in wheat and other stored grains and the product was registered by the EPA in January 2005 at a 1-parts-per-million use rate on wheat, sorghum, barley, oats, corn, rice and birdseed in the United States, he said.

"Spinosad will be commercially available for wheat producers after the international tolerance approval process is complete. Waiting for approval will help protect Kansas' role as a global wheat supplier by ensuring proper import approvals," said Bhadriraju, who anticipates product availability in late 2006 or 2007. For more information, interested persons can visit Bhadriraju's Web page.

K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus in Manhattan.