Completing the development of a detection kit for a range of grain storage mite species
HGCA PROJECT REPORT 377 Completing the development of a detection kit for a range of grain storage mite species |
Central Science Laboratory, Sand Hutton, York YO41 1NZ |
Abstract The aim of this study was to complete the development of a user-friendly field diagnostic kit to detect storage mite pests. This was achieved by a) adapting the immunoassay method for the detection of the flour mite, Acarus siro (L.), developed in a previous HGCA project, into a fully tested and validated field kit, b) extending application of the kit to detect other storage mite pests, and c) developing a decision tree to guide use of the kit and interpretation of results. The results demonstrate that:
This work demonstrated the feasibility of LFDs being used in grain stores to target mite control effort in problem areas. LFDs are easy to use, rapid and cheap (approximately £3-5) and enable more samples to be analysed than previous methods. The LFD could be used throughout the food supply chain to establish the degree of contamination and point of entry by mites. Validation work is required to confirm the commercial capability of the LFDs and to develop kits from the other species/genera specific antibodies; however, A. siro and mite species of the genus Tyrophagus are the most prevalent in UK grain stores. Further work is required to construct a model to simulate mite distributions in grain bulks. |
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