The main goal of this work was to assess the susceptibility of adults of Sitophilus zeamais (Motschulsky) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) and the physiological quality of maize grains subjected to ozone treatment in different grain layers. PVC cages 3.0 cm high and 15.0 cm diameter were built with their bottom and cover closed with organza-like cloth; the cages were placed in cylindrical containers of PVC with 20 cm diameters and 100 cm heights and connections for injection and exhaustion of the ozone gas. Insects and maize grains were subjected to a modified atmosphere with 50 mg kg-1 ozone injected at a flow of 8.0 L min-1 through a connection at the bottom of the container (plenum) for different exposure times. Sitophilus zeamais was the most susceptible species regardless of its distribution in the grain mass. The exposure periods required to achieve 95% control of adults of S. zeamais and T. castaneum were 23.76 and 64.19 h respectively, when distributed near the ozone injection; overall the treatments with atmosphere modified by ozone injection at 50 mg kg-1 did not affect the physiological quality of maize grain.
modified atmosphere; insects; fumigation
