POSSIBILITY FOR CONTROL OF PLUM FRUIT MOTH GRAPHOLITA FUNEBRANA TR. BY PHEROMONE DISPENSERS

Abstract

The plum fruit moth, Grapholita (syn. Cydia) funebrana on (Tr.), is an important and the most difficult pest to control in plum orchards. The larvae feed fruits and cause damages from early summer till have harvest time. For a long time, pest management in stone fruit orchards in Bulgaria relied on organophosphate and pyrethroid insecticides. Considering environmental concerns the eco-friendly means of control, alternative to chemical insecticides are urgently needed. The ecological approach imposes a wider application of the methods of pest management that decrease or completely eliminate the use of chemicals polluting the environment within the integrated fruit production systems. Mating disruption (MD) is a promising solution for control of different pests, particularly plum fruit moth. The possibilities for reducing the number of treatments with chemical insecticides against pests in plum orchards of Bulgaria using synthetic sex pheromones have been studied. The trials were carried out in an isolated 2.5-ha private plum orchard in three consecutive years 2017-2019. Catches of male moths in pheromone traps were almost completely inhibited in the MD block, whereas they were numerous in the reference, conventionally treated orchard during all years of study. Isomate OFM TT dispensers, installed before the first flight of G. funebrana males, reduced fruit damage significantly. The percentage of fruits containing plum fruit moth larvae was below the Economic Injury Level (EIL). The positive results obtained in this study indicate that mating disruption for control of plum fruit moth may be an effective alternative to conventional (pesticide) treatments.