Risk Assessment of Insect Pests Intercepted in Imported Planting Material

Quarantine processing of 64,806 exotic samples comprising 28,656 accessions of planting material of various crops from 37 countries during 2005 resulted in detection of infestation of insect and mite pests in 244 samples including 141 with hidden infestation. Country and pathway specific risk analysis was carried out prior to quarantine processing. Listing of pests of quarantine significance was done to facilitate the processing. The pests intercepted, which are not yet reported from India and detected through X-ray radiography include Acanthoscelides obtectus, Say in Phaseolus vulgaris L. from Colombia and Bruchus dentipes Baudi in Vicia faba L. from Spain. Other pests intercepted include Rhizopertha dominica (Fabricius), Sitophilus oryzae (Linnaeus, S. zeamais Motschulsky; Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier); Tribolium castaneum Herbst, Bruchus emarginatus, B. lentis Froelich and B. pisorum Linnaeus. All the infested samples were made pest-free using various salvaging techniques including fumigation and X-ray radiography.