Project Number: 5302-43000-034-15
Project Type: Trust

Start Date: Mar 15, 2012
End Date: Dec 31, 2014

Objective:
The goal is to construct an economical attract and kill trap to control olive fruit fly that would be attractive based on known behavioral studies of the invasive pest in California olives, and reduce GF-120 toxicant sprays in a cost effective and environmentally sound manner.

Approach:
The traps will be initially tested for attractiveness to olive fruit fly adults in cages. Adults that alight on the traps in the morning, noon, and in late afternoon will be counted over a 1 hour period and statistically compared among traps constructed from corrugated plastic, insulation board, and saucers. Trap attractiveness will be compared with and without GF-120 spray on the underside, yellow collars, male lures, and female baits. The traps will be rotated among cages to prevent behavioral adaption to any trap variable. The trap design with the best performance in cage tests will be tested in the field. The traps will be installed in trees with moderate olive fruit fly infestations and the numbers of olive fruit fly adults monitored in adjacent trees with conventional yellow sticky traps. Attraction and mortality of adults will be evaluated by collecting small fruit samples in trees with traps, and counting the adults, larvae, and pupae that emerge. The numbers of insects will be compared in similar trees that are not exposed to the attract and kill traps. Environmental conditions will be monitored with data loggers. The weathering of GF-120 will be determined by residue analysis. The prototype attract and kill traps will be increased in size to study potential application in olive orchards. Determination of attraction and mortality will be similar to procedures used for the prototype, but will include female ovipositional sites because olive fruit fly infestations are low in the Central Valley.