Plutella xylostella (L.) population control in sowings of spring rapeseed using pheromones

Sergey Semerenko,Nadezhda Bushneva,O.Y Patlasov

doi:10.1051/bioconf/20224202004

Abstract

The diamondback moth Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus, 1758) is a common pest of rapeseed and other crops of Brassicaceae family. Annual yield losses and costs of pest control worldwide are estimated at $ 4-5 billion. The pest has an increased tendency to develop resistance to insecticides. The use of traps with synthetic sex pheromone is a modern instrumental method of monitoring P. xylostella. The use of the mating disruption method will effectively decrease pest numbers and reduce the application of insecticides. In 2017-2020, we researched the pheromone activity and evaluated the mating disruption method in the sowings of spring rapeseed at V.S. Pustovoit All-Russian Research Institute of Oil Crops (VNIIMK) (Krasnodar). We established that P. xylostella males were caught in traps with all tested dispenser types. The pheromone showed the greatest activity on the foil-film dispenser (F). The mating disruption method effectively decreased P. xylostella population in rapeseed sowing; the disruption effect by the end of crop vegetation was high and reached 82.5 %.

Highlights

Analysts predict a 30 % increase in global population by the middle of the 21st century, which will increase the demand for food production by 70 % and require further expansion of modern agriculture [1, 2]
To improve the control of P. xylostella on the sowings of spring rapeseed, we studied the activity of a synthetic pheromone in several preparative forms for the timely detection of the pest and the possibility of decreasing its population numbers, using the mating disruption method
We evaluated the mating disruption method on a 1 ha plot of spring rapeseed sowing with a manual distribution of 150 rubber tubes

Summary

Introduction

Analysts predict a 30 % increase in global population (up to 9.2 billion people) by the middle of the 21st century, which will increase the demand for food production by 70 % and require further expansion of modern agriculture [1, 2]. Within the concept of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), the use of pheromones is highly effective, environmentally friendly, and safe. By creating the same pheromones as the insects and releasing them over crop fields, it is possible to disrupt insect mating, thereby inhibiting insect reproduction and pest harmfulness. This approach is considered one of the promising ones [5,6,7]. To improve the control of P. xylostella on the sowings of spring rapeseed, we studied the activity of a synthetic pheromone in several preparative forms for the timely detection of the pest and the possibility of decreasing its population numbers, using the mating disruption method

Materials and methods

Results and discussion

Conclusions