Simultaneous Disruption of Pheromone Communication in Choristoneura rosaceana and Pandemis limitata with Pheromone and Antagonist Blends

Abstract

In British Columbia, trapping and wind-tunnel studies demonstrated that (Z)-9-tetradecenyl acetate (Z9–14:OAc), a minor component of the sex pheromone for Pandemis limitata, acted as a pheromone antagonist to a sympatric species, Choristoneura rosaceana. Addition of >1% Z9–14:OAc to the four-component C. rosaceana pheromone in a wind tunnel resulted in significant reductions in the proportion of male C. rosaceana that wing fanned, locked on to the plume in flight, oriented upwind, and made source contact, compared to the responses to the pheromone alone. Disruption of pheromone communication was tested in 33.3 × 33.3-m plots, at a release rate of 10 mg/ha/hr using Conrel fiber dispensers. Z9–14:OAc applied alone did not disrupt orientation to virgin-female-baited traps for either C. rosaceana or P. limitata. A 1:1 mixture of Z9–14:OAc and the four-component C. rosaceana pheromone was as effective as the pheromone alone at disrupting orientation of C. rosaceana males to virgin-female-baited traps, demonstrating that disruption apparently did not occur through false-trail following. The 1:1 mixture of Z9–14:OAc and the C. rosaceana pheromone also reduced catches of P. limitata males in virgin-female-baited traps, but not significantly more than the 83% disruption caused by the pheromone alone. Therefore, the C. rosaceana pheromone could be used alone or with Z9–14:OAc to disrupt communication and, presumably, mating in both leafrollers simultaneously.