United States Department of Agriculture

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Amendment to Heat treatment T314-a in the Plant 

Protection and Quarantine Treatment Manual

Treatment Evaluation Document

Date: August 28, 2013

Treatments, Pests, Commodities and Countries

New Treatment/ 

Revision/Deletion 

Treatment 

Type

Target Pests Commodity Applicable Countries of 

origin

Treatment 

revision (T314-a)

Heat Asian 

longhorned 

beetle 

(Anoplophora 

glabripennis)

all hardwood regulated 

articles including firewood 

from Asian longhorned 

beetle quarantine areas

All

Objective: To provide supporting information and justification for a proposed change to 

phytosanitary treatment in APHIS Treatment Manual. The change is to help continue 

trade of all regulated articles and hardwood firewood in areas infested with Asian 

longhorned beetle (ALB) Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky).

Overview: The regulated articles to prevent the spread of Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) 

are listed on 7 CFR 301.51-2. Currently, ALB regulated articles are treated as described 

by T314-c in the Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) Treatment Manual. 

T314-c requires heating the core of the largest piece of wood to 71 degrees Celsius and 

maintaining that temperature for 75 minutes. This is the most stringent heat treatment 

available for firewood and is effective for all known forest pests and all regulated wood 

articles as per 7 CFR 319.40-1. The use of T314-c imposes significant additional costs 

because as much as one-third more heat energy must be introduced into the heat 

treatment chamber than the heat energy necessary with T314-a. It is also important to 

note that during periods of cold weather some heat treatment facilities in Northern states 

have difficulty reaching and holding the temperatures necessary to correctly apply this 

treatment. Since reaching and maintaining the current treatment temperature in current 

lumber kilns and other wood ovens has been difficult and expensive, APHIS’ Center for 

Plant Health Science and Technology (CPHST) conducted a study to determine the 

thermal death point of ALB in firewood to establish a heat treatment specific for ALB 

(Myers and Bailey, 2011).

Evaluation: Results from experiments conducted by CPHST indicate that 56°C core 

temperature for 30 minutes is effective in eliminating survival of overwintering larvae
2

(Myers and Bailey, 2011). However, to ensure heat treatments are effective, the ALB 

Eradication Program is recommending a more conservative approach of treating firewood 

at 60°C for 60 minutes, as outlined in Treatment T314-a; currently approved for Emerald 

Ash Borer (EAB) regulated articles. This approach provides one treatment standard for 

both ALB and EAB.

Revision of Treatment T314-a: In order for the trade of wood products to continue 

unaffected, the treatment schedule T 314-a is proposed to heat treat all hardwood 

firewood from ALB quarantined areas. The revised treatment schedule would appear as 

follows:

T314-a Regulated Wood Articles2,3, from Quarantine Areas for Emerald Ash Borer and 

Asian Longhorned Beetle.

 

Pests: Agrilus planipennis (Emerald Ash Borer), and Anoplophora glabripennis (Asian 

Longhorned Beetle).

Treatment: T314-a —

Heat Treatment Unit

Temperature Time (minutes)

°F 140 60

°C 60 60

2 Emerald Ash Borer regulated articles include: firewood of all hardwood (non-coniferous) species, 

nursery stock, green lumber, and other material living, dead, cut, or fallen, including logs, stumps, roots, 

branches, and composted and uncomposted chips of the genus Fraxinus ( 7 CFR 301.53-2)

3 Asian Longhorned Beetle regulated articles are firewood (all hardwood species) and green lumber and 

other material living, dead, cut, or fallen, inclusive of nursery stock , logs, stumps, roots, branches, and 

debris of half an inch or more in diameter of the following genera: Acer (maple), Aesculus (horse chestnut), 

Albizia (mimosa), Betula (birch), Celtis (hackberry), Cercidiphyllum (katsura), Fraxinus (ash), 

Koelreuteria (golden rain tree), Platanus (sycamore), Populus (poplar), Salix (willow), Sorbus (mountain 

ash), and Ulmus (elm). (7 CFR 301.51-2

Decision: Amend the treatment currently provided in T314-a to include Asian 

Longhorned Beetle; all regulated articles 3 as described in 7 CFR 301.51-2

. 

Note: Current quarantine areas for ALB can be found at:

 http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/asian_lhb/spro.shtml.

Current quarantine areas for EAB can be found at:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/emerald_ash_b/quarantine.shtml

Originator: Robyn Rose, National Policy Manager, ALB Eradication Program

Reviewers: Josie Cooley, Claudia Ferguson, and Paul Gadh, 

Literature cited:
3

Myers, S. W. and S. Bailey. 2011. Evaluation of heat treatment schedules for the Asian 

longhorned beetle Anoplophora glabripennis (Coleoptera: Cerembycidae). Forest 

Products Journal. 61(1): 46-59.

USDA-APHIS-PPQ Treatment Manual