Comparison of different traps and attractants in three food processing facilities in Greece on the capture of stored product insects

Authors: Morrison, William - Rob; AGRAFIOTI, PARASKEVI - University Of Thessaly; DOMINGUE, MICHAEL - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS); Scheff, Deanna; LAMPIRI, EVAGELIA - University Of Thessaly; GOURGOUTA, MARINA - University Of Thessaly; BALIOTA, GEORGIA - University Of Thessaly; SAKKA, MARIA - University Of Thessaly; MYERS, SCOTT - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS); ATHANASSIOU, CHRISTOS - University Of Thessaly

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/11/2023
Publication Date: 8/1/2023
Citation: Morrison III, W.R., Agrafioti, P., Domingue, M.J., Scheff, D.S., Lampiri, E., Gourgouta, M., Baliota, G.V., Sakka, M., Myers, S.W., Athanassiou, C.G. 2023. Comparison of different traps and attractants in three food processing facilities in Greece on the capture of stored product insects. Journal of Economic Entomology. 116(4):1432-1446. https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toad107.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toad107

Interpretive Summary: Long-term pest monitoring programs are essential for food facilities after harvest to determine which insects are present and take appropriate management actions. However, different trap designs and baits (including food cues and insect pheromones) can significantly impact which species are captured and the overall efficacy of a monitoring program. In this study, we deployed three different commercial trap designs that are commonly used to detect stored product insects in a variety of different food facilities in Greece over two years. We tested each trap with five different attractants in order to identify combinations that captured the greatest diversity of insect species and trapped the largest number of stored product insects. Traps were checked every 15 days to detect temporal changes in abundance of different stored product insects. Overall, we found that that a commercially available floor trap combined with a gel lure that contained either food volatiles or pheromones consistently captured the largest number of insects and the greatest species diversity every year. The information from this study will be useful in helping to optimize trap design for a range of stored product insects to improve monitoring programs at food facilities.

Technical Abstract: Certain lures are marketed toward particular pests or classes of pests, while others might be multi-species lures. Our questions included both which trap was most sensitive as well as whether different combinations of traps and attractants were delivering novel information about the stored product insect community. We compared all combinations of three commercial traps and five different attractants on the capture of stored-product insects for two consecutive years in three food processing facilities in Central Greece. The traps that were used in the experiments were Dome Trap (Trécé Inc., USA), Wall Trap (Trécé) and Box Trap (Insects Limited, Ltd., USA). The attractants that were evaluated were 0.13 g of: 1) of PantryPatrol gel (Insects Limited), 2) Storgard kairomone food attractant oil (Trécé), 3) wheat germ (Honeyville, USA), and 4) Dermestid tablet attractant (Insects Limited). The traps were inspected approximately every 15 days and rotated. We captured 34,000+ individuals belonging to 26 families, and at least 48 species. The results indicated that the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hübner), the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) and the cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne (F.) were the most abundant. Although there were noticeable differences among the different traps and attractants for specific species, all combinations provided similar information on population dynamics. Generally, Dome traps, baited with either the oil or the gel, were found to be the most sensitive. The results of the present study demonstrate the importance of long-term trapping protocols, as a keystone in IPM-based control strategies in food processing facilities.