Abstract
Sex-pheromone traps baited with a rubber-septum containing 14-methyl-1-octadecene are used to monitor the emergence of adult peach leafminer moths, Lyonetia clerkella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Lyonetiidae), in peach orchards. This compound is also used as a mating disrupter; large amounts of synthetic 14-methyl-1-octadecene can successfully interfere with the mate-finding behavior of the male moths. In peach orchards treated with mating disrupters, however, conventional rubber-septum lures are ineffective, because mating disrupters interfere with male orientation. In this work we demonstrated that a commercially-available mating disrupter, Confuser® MM, can be used as an attractant in orchards treated with mating disrupters. In an indoor flight tunnel experiment, 33–42 % of males pre-exposed to a mating disrupter responded to one to ten Confuser® MM dispensers whereas only 8 % responded to a conventional lure made from a rubber-septum impregnated with a relatively small amount of the sex pheromone. The number of male moths captured by traps baited with five dispensers of Confuser® MM in orchards treated with mating disrupters was positively correlated with the number of males trapped by use of a conventional rubber-septum lure in untreated orchards. This suggests that Confuser® MM can be used as an attractant for monitoring emergence time and relative abundance in an orchard being treated with a mating disrupter.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call