Effect of feeding rats on gamma irradiated flour infected with Tribolium confusum

Background: Flour is one of the most important food sources, therefore it must be kept healthy and clean. As a potential pest control modality, we aimed to examine whether flour irradiation is a feasible tool to eradicate Tribolium confusum adults from infected flour considering probable health effects of infested flour consumption. Materials and Methods: unirradiated and irradiated flour were infested with 70 or 100 T. confusum adults/25g and stored for 6 and 12 weeks, the number of T. confusum progeny, antifeedant activity and biochemical changes (Aspartate Aminotransaminase (AST) and Alanine Aminotransaferase (ALT) activities) in adults were estimated. In addition the effect of feeding rats on bread made from theses infested flour was studied. Results: the obtained results revealed that flour irradiation caused disturbance in the production and physiology of T. confusum adults feed on it. In addition, the gained data exposed a significant decline in rats' weight and alterations in some biochemical aspect (glutathione content, glutathione-S-transferase, malondialdehyde, gammagluamyl transferase, AST, ALT) which were more pronounced in those fed on irradiated flour infected with T. confusum. As well as, there was a disturbance in the complete blood picture (white blood cells, the lymphocyte count, red blood corpuscles and hemoglobin). Moreover, rats fed on bread made from irradiated or unirradiated infected flour exhibited pathological damages in their liver sections. Conclusion: It is concluded that irradiation of flour disturbs the physiological process in T. confusum so it may serve as a good preservation tool and does not significantly affect the rats.