DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE TREATMENT PROTOCOLS TO CONTROL BARK BEETLE (SCOLYTIDAE: DENDROCTONUS ARMANDI) IN WOOD USING RADIO FREQUENCY HEATING AND FORCED HOT AIR

The bark beetle (Dendroctonus armandi), an insect that especially attacks pine trees, has been recognized as a global infestation causing damage to forests worldwide. Radio frequency (RF) heat treatment has been proposed as a technique to replace chemical fumigation for controlling bark beetle in wood products. In this study, a 6 kW, 27.12 MHz pilot-scale RF heating unit was used in evaluating and validating a treatment protocol for disinfesting wood products infested with bark beetle. The mortality of bark beetle adults increased with increasing treatment temperature and holding time. Complete mortality was achieved by heating the samples to 50 degrees C with an electrode gap of 120 mm and holding for 3 min under forced circulation of hot air. The quality of RF-hot air treated wood samples had no significant difference from the control group, including the main quality attributes (e.g., moisture content, checking, and bending properties). Therefore, RF-hot air thermal treatment may provide a fast, effective, and environmentally friendly treatment for disinfesting wood products that carry D. armandi.