Find in Library

High carbon dioxide concentrations can effectively control most storage pests. To estimate the toxicity effect of high concentrations of CO₂, four different concentrations of CO₂ (25% CO₂, 50% CO₂, 75% CO₂, and 95% CO₂) were used to treat <i>Tribolium castaneum</i>, and the biochemical (carbohydrate content and gene expression level) and physiological (mortality, pupation, eclosion rate, and weight) features of insects submitted to different treatments with CO₂ were evaluated. The <i>T. castaneum</i> mortality rate was 50% in approximately 2 days when exposed to a treatment with 95% CO₂. When the CO₂ concentration exceeded 75%, the pupation rate and eclosion rate of <i>T. castaneum</i> seriously declined. Higher than 25% CO₂ concentrations resulted in a lower weight and shrunken body size of <i>T. castaneum</i>. It was further found that different CO₂ concentration treatments all influenced the levels of the three carbohydrate contents in <i>T. castaneum</i>. In addition, according to the detection of trehalose metabolism pathway-related genes, <i>T. castaneum</i> mainly responds to stress factors via high expression of <i>TPS</i>, <i>TRE1-2</i>, and <i>TRE1-3</i>. Our results enrich the evaluation of the toxicity effect of CO₂ treatment on grain storage pests, providing a basis for further improving the method of regulating grain storage to control insect pests.