Z badań nad szkodnikami produktów spożywczych

Abstract

The article discusses the role and significance of pests in food products, with special attention to granary pests. There is a preliminary discussion of the damage caused by pests belonging to diffedent animal groups, citing examples of the extent of this damage in different countries. The author next, on the basis of her own studies and the scientific literature, analyses the adaptation of the pests to life in the environment of granaries and food stores and distinguishes morphological, biological, and ecological adaptations. Here are given examples of the specific structure of the mouth organs in selected representatives of insects and mites, and of their facilities for distribution. The metabolism of insects living on dry food is also discussed here, and in connection with this, the organs serving for the maximal use of moisture, both atmospheric and contained in the food. This is followed by an analysis, from many examples, of the thermo-humid relationships influencing the growth and survival of the insects, with particular consideration of the part played by „grain-heating foci”. Finally there is a discussion of some problems connected wih the origin and migration of many pest species, and, the ecological conditions of the specific environment of stores and granaries.