Project Number: 5302-43000-034-13
Project Type: Trust

Start Date: Jun 01, 2010
End Date: Mar 31, 2013

Objective:
The main focus of the work proposed here will be to use an evolutionary bioassay-driven process to make lab and then field-ready pheromone lures by starting with highly purified (LC/HPLC) pheromone components and formulate them on rubber septa and other lab substrates that have been de-activated (cleaned up/extracted); ratios of emitted pheromone volatiles will be assessed regularly. The pheromone components will be stabilized with BHT and Sumisorb™ and these lures will be compared to “standard” filter-paper sources and a commercial lure formulation from ISCA Technologies.

Approach:
The approach will be to be as rigorous as possible with chemical purity, lure dosing and assessment of pheromone release ratios and then add a graded or stepwise level of “stress” on the pheromone formulations. Lures made with rubber septa have been known to be unstable with some aldehyde-containing pheromone blends. To circumvent this problem, we will exhaustively extract rubber septa, plastic vials and tubes with a Soxhlet device or by boiling them in hot solvents to remove compounds that can catalyze aldehyde pheromone degradation. These prospective lures with then be loaded with the now known 4-component pheromone blend and their by quality and longevity testing will start in the laboratory by comparison with filter paper disks loaded with gland extract or the 4-component pheromone blend as positive controls.