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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Parlier, California » San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center » Commodity Protection and Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #251482
Title: Pheromone traps for monitoring Plodia interpunctella (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in the presence of mating disruption

Author
item Burks, Charles - Chuck
item Brandl, David
item Kuenen, Lodewyk
item REYES, CARLOS - Suterra, Llc
item FISHER, JOAN - Suterra, Llc

Submitted to: Stored Products Protection International Working Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/5/2010
Publication Date: 10/15/2010
Citation: Burks, C.S., Brandl, D.G., Kuenen, L.P., Reyes, C.C., Fisher, J.M. 2010. Pheromone traps for monitoring Plodia interpunctella (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in the presence of mating disruption. Stored Products Protection International Working Conference Proceedings. In: Carvalho, M. O., Fields, P. G., Adler, C. S., Arthur, F. H., Athanassiou, C. G., Cambell, J. F., Fleurat-Lessard, F., Flinn, P. W., Hodges, R. J., Isikber, A. A., Navarro, S., Noyes, R., Riudavets, J., Sinha, K. K., Thorpe, G., Timlick, B. H., Trematerra, P. & White, N. D. G., eds. 10th International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection, 2010 Estoril, Portugal. Julius Kühn-Institut, Berlin. 79-84.

Interpretive Summary: The Indianmeal moth (IMM) is an important global pest of a wide variety of stored products. Recent studies indicate that mating disruption by pheromone permeation is promising for control of this and related stored product moths. Pest managers are, however, reluctant to use this tactic because it may interfere with pheromone lures that are currently important for standardized monitoring. Here we present data demonstrating that, in the presence of mating disruption, traps baited with pheromone lures containing a tenth of the standard commercial load capture IMM males not captured in traps baited with IMM females as a pheromone source. Moreover, traps with 10 times the standard load capture more males in either the presence or the absence of mating disruption. These data will help adaptation of mating disruption as a least-toxic alternative to aerosol or residual insecticides, and may aid the development of trap-and-kill technologies as a more cost-effective alternative to mating disruption by pheromone permeation.

Technical Abstract: High-dose pheromone lures have proved useful for monitoring some lepidopteran pests in the presence of mating disruption, but not others. We performed experiments in commercial and pilot scale facilities to examine the effect of pheromone dose on detection of Indianmeal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hübner) (Lepidoptera:Pyralidae), in the presence of mating disruption. When P.interpunctella males were released into 1000 m3 rooms containing traps baited with 0, 1, or 10 mg (Z,E)-9,12- tetradecadienyl acetate (Z9,E12-14:Ac), traps containing 10 mg captured more than those baited with 1 mg in both the presence and absence of mating disruption. Traps baited with 1 mg captured fewer males in the presence of mating disruption than in its absence, but the opposite was observed with traps baited with 10 mg. When males released into 73 m3 rooms were exposed sequentially to blank traps, traps baited with unmated females, and traps baited with 0.1 mg and then 1.0 mg Z9,E12-14:Ac in the presence or absence of mating disruption, 92% of trapped males were captured in female-baited traps in the absence of mating disruption, whereas in the presence of mating disruption 72% of males captured were caught in synthetic pheromone traps. These data suggest that pheromone lures can be used for monitoring P. interpunctella in the presence of mating disruption. Implications of these data for mass trapping are also discussed.