The utilisation of sex pheromones for the control of stem-borers

Abstract

This paper reviews progress made in the identification of the sex pheromones of lepidop-terous stem-borers and the use of these pheromones in crop protection. These uses include population monitoring with pheromone traps and control by mass trapping and mating disruption, and case histories for Ostrinia nubilalis and Chilo suppressalis are considered in detail to illustrate the problems encountered in applying these techniques. The pheromone blend, trap design, trap siting and pest biology are important factors in any monitoring system, and so far little progress has been made in correlating pheromone trap catches with subsequent larval infestations and crop damage by stem-borers. Control by mass trapping using pheromone traps has been little explored and is thought unlikely to provide a satisfactory control technique for many stem-borers. Control by mating disruption has been more extensively examined with encouraging results. The main potential of this technique would seem to lie in controlling pests of rice, maize and sugar-cane grown under plantation conditions.