THE BREWERY trade has given its stamp of approval to a new non-chemical grain pest control treatment.

Silico-Sec, marketed by Interfarm, is now on the British Beer and Pubs Association Approved list of products that can be applied as a surface treatment for stored malting barley.

An amorphous diatomaceous earth, Silico-Sec is made up of fossilised deposits of single-celled water-borne organisms largely composed of silicon.

It is the silicon that causes desiccation and controls insects and mites, when used on the fabric of buildings or on grain piles.

“Silico-Sec will kill all target pests, even those resistant to certain chemicals,” claimed Interfarm technical manager David Stormonth.

“It is a natural alternative to organophosphate treatments.”

Recent Home-Grown Cereals Authority-funded research work from Central Science Laboratory has confirmed the efficacy of Silico-Sec, he pointed out.

It should be applied as a dry dust to cleaned and dry stores at a rate of 10g per sqm at least five weeks before stores are filled or to the surface of stored grain.

Suitable for both conventional and organic stored grain, the recommended preventative treatment rate is 200g per sqm or as a curative application a rate of 600g per sqm should be used.

It can be used on all stored feed wheat, barley and oilseed rape, except milling wheat and cannot be used at the curative rate on malting barley.