Comparison the effectiveness of the fumigants sulfuryl fluoride and phosphine in controlling warehouse pest insects

Warehouse pest insects contained in commodities can affect the quality and quantity of the commodity. Every industry which has a commodity stored in warehouses makes efforts to prevent damage to the commodity. Control of insect pests during storage is generally conducted by fumigations with phosphine (PH₃) and sulfuryl fluoride (SO₂F₂). This study aims to analyze and compare sulfuryl fluoride and phosphine fumigants in controlling pest insects in the animal feed industry warehouses in Semarang, Central Java. The test insects used are all kinds of insects found on piles of commodities that will be fumigated. The test used is the mortality test. Observations are carried out before and after fumigation takes place. The one-way ANOVA with the Tukey follow-up test was employed to analyze the data. There was a difference in the average mortality of warehouse pest insects between treatments and the highest mortality rate in fumigation using sulfuryl fluoride. Thus, fumigants sulfuryl fluoride and phosphine can affect the mortality of warehouse pest insects. Fumigation using sulfuryl fluoride is easy to apply, more effective, and exposure time is faster compared to phosphine.