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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Crop Bioprotection Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #98519
Title: MORTALITY OF RHAGOLETIS SPECIES ENCOUNTERING PESTICIDE-TREATED SPHERES (DIPTERA: TEPHRITIDAE)

Author
item LIBURD, OSCAR - MICH STATE UNIV, LANSING
item GUT, LARRY - MICH STATE UNIV, LANSING
item STELINSKI, LUKASZ - KALMZOO COLL,KALMZOO, MI
item WHALON, MARK - MICH STATE UNIV, LANSING
item McGuire, Michael
item Willett, Julious
item WISE, JOHN - MICH STATE UNIV, LANSING
item HU, XING - UNIV MA, AMHERST, MA
item PROKOPY, RONALD - UNIV MA, AMHERST, MA

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/13/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The apple maggot fly is a primary pest of apples grown in Eastern and Midwestern U.S. apple-producing regions. Typically, farmers may make three applications of pesticide to control apple maggot adults before egg laying occurs. Recently, efforts to control flies without chemical sprays has resulted in the development of a corn flour-based, biodegradable sphere that contains a small amount of a new biochemically based pesticide, imidacloprid. Flies alight on the spheres, in lieu of apples, feed on the surface of the sphere, and ingest a lethal amount of toxicant. Results from this study suggest that these spheres are very effective in killing the flies under commercial apple-producing conditions. Benefits from this technology include no toxicant contacting the apples and only one trip through the field to hang spheres. Previous studies have shown the spheres to be effective in controlling damage to apples as well as measured by harvest samples. This information will be most useful to other scientists engaged in apple pest management.

Technical Abstract: Baited pesticide-treated biodegradable spheres were evaluated for their efficacy to control and monitor apple maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh), and blueberry maggot, R. mendax (Curran) flies. A plexi-glass pane treated with sprayable Tangle-Trap(R) was found to be an effective technique for assessing the fate of Rhagoletis flies encountering treated spheres. Significantly more R. pomonella and R. mendax flies were captured on plexi- glass panes below pesticide-treated spheres compared with panes below nonpesticide-treated spheres. The mean feeding time was also significantly longer on pesticide-treated spheres compared with nonpesticide-treated spheres. Monitoring traps (consisting of unbaited 9-cm diam red sticky spheres) placed within a 2-m radius of pesticide-treated spheres captured significantly fewer flies compared with traps placed at the same distance from nonpesticide-treated spheres. The results support the potential for using pesticide-treated spheres for control of R. pomonella and other Rhagoletis species.