Need an Entomology Chamber?

Client Spotlight – Impetus Ag

Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Impetus Ag develops cutting edge technology to address the increasing threat of insect pests to the global food supply. Impetus Ag has developed a novel platform that enhances the performance of Bt (bacillus thuringiensis) pesticides. Bt pesticides are recognized as among the safest and most widely used pesticides in agriculture. The platform enables a discovery pipeline for new biological and transgenic insect control products, that are safe, effective, and sustainable while seamlessly integrating with modern agricultural practices.

The Challenge

The need for safer and more sustainable agriculture has grown to become a pressing global challenge. As part of the sustainability challenge the role of pesticide usage has received significant attention—and for good reason. In the past, farmers have relied on chemical pesticides to protect their crops from insects and diseases. This has led to significant environmental damage, including soil degradation, water contamination, and harm to non-target species. Concerns over human health impacts have prompted a reevaluation of pesticide methods and practices.

Enter the Conviron growth chamber used for Impetus Ag's entomology research and testing.

The Solution

In order to evaluate and test the efficacy of its solutions, Impetus Ag needed an environment where they could grow the plant in tightly controlled conditions, then introduce the insects to the plant to evaluate their development. Central to this process was not only providing a uniform and stable climate for the insects but also to not let the insects escape from the growth chamber.

To help Impetus Ag achieve its objectives, Conviron utilized the internal dimensions of one of its popular chambers (the GEN1000) and worked together with a specialized supplier of insect containment products (Bug Dorm) to develop a custom built containment solution.

Other Considerations

When rearing insects in controlled conditions, other considerations and layers of protection can also be incorporated into growth chambers, including:

• Phenolic coated coils: Researchers rearing insects may opt for a phenolic coated refrigeration coil. Phenolic coated evaporator coils are ideal for entomology research as they protect against the airborne corrosive particles inherent when rearing insects and thereby extend the life of the refrigeration system.
• Hepa Filtration: In other insect rearing chambers, Conviron has modified the chamber to include up to three-stages of filtration. The first stage incorporates a removable woven filter on the back plenum to catch larger particles from the insects. The latter two stages eliminate the smallest particles from the air before recirculation with a bank of pleated and true HEPA filters. A True HEPA filtration device or filter is the only type of HEPA filter that conforms to the US Department of Energy (DOE) standard for HEPA filtration, has the highest efficiency, and achieves the 99.97% threshold. To learn more, follow the link below for an in depth case study on a walk-in growth room that was modified with hepa filtration. The growth room was designed to raise Lepidoptera that are known to injure valuable plants such as grains, sugar beets, cotton, fruits and even trees.

Contact Conviron directly to learn more about our plant growth chambers and rooms suitable for entomology research.