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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Insect Behavior and Biocontrol Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #260789
Title: Applications and mechanisms of wax-based semiochemical dispenser technology for disruption of grape root borer mating

Author
item SANDERS, W. - University Of Florida
item LIBURD, O. - University Of Florida
item Mankin, Richard
item MEYER, W. - University Of Florida
item STELINSKI, L. - Ministry Of Science And Innovation, Csic

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/3/2011
Publication Date: 6/1/2011
Citation: Sanders, W.R., Liburd, O.E., Mankin, R.W., Meyer, W.L., Stelinski, L.L. 2011. Applications and mechanisms of wax-based semiochemical dispenser technology for disruption of grape root borer mating. Journal of Economic Entomology. 104(3):939-946.

Interpretive Summary: Scientists at the USDA-ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville, Florida, and the University of Florida conducted and analyzed experiments to determine the best method of disrupting mating of the grape root borer using different sex pheromones and different dispensing procedures. A method was found that satisfactorily disrupts mating of this important destroyer of grape vines in the Southeast and may be inexpensive enough for use by vineyard managers who are facing the phasing out of the few chemical pesticides still rated for use against grape root borer.

Technical Abstract: Grape root borer, Vitacea polistiformis Harris, is an important pest of cultivated grapes in the Eastern United States from North Carolina to Florida. There are few effective registered insecticides for effective control of this pest and their efficacy is limited. Pheromone-based mating disruption is a potential effective alternative to insecticides for management of V. polistiformis. The purpose of this investigation was to develop effective pheromone-based disruption of V. polistiformis for practical management of this pest. The wax-based SPLAT technology (Specialized Pheromone & Lure Application Technology, ISCA Tech., Riverside, CA) was used as the dispenser of pheromone. A minimum density of ~700 dispensers/ha was required to achieve nearly 100% disruption of male catch in traps when 1.0 g dispensers were loaded with 5.0 mg of V. polistiformis pheromone (99% (E,Z)-2,13-octadecadien-1-ol: 1% (Z,Z)-3,13-octadecadien-1-ol). However, ~ 95% disruption was obtained when the density of such dispensers was reduced to only 150 / ha. With an overall deployment rate of ~700 dispensers / ha, aggregating release sites reduced efficacy; placement of one dispenser per vine was optimal. The release rate of pheromone from these dispensers was ~ 77.4 µg / g of SPLAT / day. Efficacy was equivalent between a 2.5 and 5.0 mg loading rate of V. polistiformis pheromone per dispenser of SPLAT; however, release rate quantification indicated that in order to maintain effective disruption for a 10 wk period, a minimum initial load rate of 5.4 mg / g of SPLAT would be required. When deployed at ~3,500 dispensers/ha, disruption was equivalent between the ‘natural’ V. polistiformis blend and the Zeuzera pyrina L. pheromone blend (95% (E,Z)-2,13-octadecadien-1-ol: 5% (E,Z)-3,13-octadecadien-1-ol), both of which contain (E,Z)-2,13-octadecadien-1-ol as the major component. Trapping studies confirmed that the Z. pyrina blend did not attract V. polistiformis males at various dosages, but that SPLAT dispensers containing the V. polistiformis blend were attractive. Although competitive attraction appears to mediate disruption of V. polistiformis at lower overall deployment rates of pheromone dispensers containing the natural blend, the Z. pyrina blend is effective (presumably by a non-competitive mechanism) at higher rates of pheromone dispensers per area of crop. Given that the V. polistiformis blend is ~50 times more expensive than the Z. pyrina blend, mating disruption of V. polistiformis may be more practical with higher dosages of an impure isomeric blend of (E,Z)-2,13-octadecadien-1-ol or the commercially produced Z. pyrina blend than with the V. polistiformis blend.