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Title: EFFICACY OF TWO SYNTHETIC FOOD-ODOR LURES FOR MEXICAN FRUIT FLIES (DIPTERA: TEPHRITIDAE) IS DETERMINED BY TRAP TYPE

Author
item Robacker, David
item CZOKAJLO, DAREK - ADVANCED PHERO. TECH.

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/31/2005
Publication Date: 10/14/2005
Citation: Robacker, D.C., Czokajlo, D. 2005. Efficacy of two synthetic food-odor lures for Mexican fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) is determined by trap type. Journal of Economic Entomology. 98(5):1517-1523.

Interpretive Summary: Fruit flies, such as the Mexican fruit fly, are among the most important fruit pests in the world. Wherever they live or could potentially invade, agricultural agencies must keep a vigil to ensure that the flies do not gain a foothold or rise to damaging population levels. The principal tools for this job are traps that can be put into areas where fruit flies are suspected. The better the bait used in traps, the sooner flies can be detected or their populations assessed, and the easier it is to eradicate or at least control the outbreak. While a proteinaceous slurry has been the standard bait for many species of fruit flies for many decades, a synthetic lure (BioLure)(Suterra, Inc., Bend, OR) has been gaining favor for trapping Mexican fruit flies and several other pest fruit flies. This work describes trials in citrus orchards comparing this lure with a recently developed lure (AFF lure) (Advanced Pheromone Technologies, Inc., Marylhurst, OR) for efficacy with Mexican fruit flies. Results indicated that BioLures were more attractive than AFF lures in ‘wet’ traps containing antifreeze as a killing agent, but AFF lures were more attractive on a recently designed sticky cylinder trap. Measurements suggested that high emission of lure chemical components from the AFF lures was responsible both for their poor performance in wet traps and good performance on the sticky traps. Implications of these results are that BioLures would be the lure of choice in enclosed traps whereas AFF lures would be the better lure on exposed-surface traps. Matching of lures with the most appropriate traps should enable faster detection and less expensive control and eradication of pest fruit flies.

Technical Abstract: Sterile Mexican fruit flies (Anastrepha ludens Loew) were trapped in a citrus orchard using multilure traps and cylindrical sticky traps baited with Advanced Pheromone Technologies Anastrepha fruit fly (AFF) lures or Suterra BioLure MFF lures (2-component lure without trimethylamine hydrochloride). The cylinder trap/AFF lure combination was the best trap over the first 6 weeks, the multilure trap/BioLure combination was best during weeks 6-12, and the multilure trap/AFF lure combination was best during the last 6 weeks. The multilure trap/BioLure combination was best overall by 36% over the cylinder trap/AFF lure combination, and 57% over the multilure trap/AFF lure combination. Cylinder traps with BioLures were the least effective trap/lure combination throughout the experiment, capturing only half as many flies as cylinder traps with AFF lures. Captures with cylinder traps baited with either lure and multilure traps with BioLures were female biased. For the most part, both lures remained highly attractive and emitted detectable amounts of attractive components under hot field conditions for the duration of the 18-week experiment. Total emission of ammonia was 4X greater and 1-pyrroline at least 10X greater from AFF lures compared with BioLures. Correlations of trap and lure performance with ammonia emission and weather were determined but no conclusions were possible. Results indicate that BioLures would be the lure of choice in multilure or other McPhail-type traps and AFF lures would be superior with most sticky traps or kill stations that attract flies to outer (not enclosed) surfaces.