Devitalisation of imported feed grain by fumigation

Summary

FLOT.124 aimed to address what were perceived to be three major biosecurity issues associated with imported feed grain by:

1. Demonstrating the ability of EDN to devitalise four target grain commodities (maize, wheat, barley and sorghum). This was important as devitalising grain breaks the life cycle of any obligate pathogens (e.g. many viruses and pathogens).
2. Devitalising contaminant weed seeds that might be potentially associated with imported grain; and
3. Using surrogate pathogens to demonstrate a capability to devitalise pathogens that might be associated with imported grain.

The results demonstrated "in principle" feasibility of treating maize, barley, wheat and sorghum imported from the UK and USA along with some, but not all, exotic seeds tested. In addition, the efficacy of EDN was demonstrated against a selection of surrogate pathogens chosen to represent the pathogens deemed to be quarantine risks associated with the four commodities from the UK and USA.

Based on these results a further project FLOT.127 was planned to extend the results of FLOT.124 and to demonstrate a commercial protocol using EDN.