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Title: Monitoring codling moth (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in orchards treated with pear ester and sex pheromone combo dispensers

Author
item Knight, Alan
item Light, Douglas
item CHEBNY, VINCE - Trece, Inc

Submitted to: Journal of Applied Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/5/2012
Publication Date: 5/18/2012
Citation: Knight, A.L., Light, D.M., Chebny, V. 2012. Monitoring codling moth (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in orchards treated with pear ester and sex pheromone combo dispensers. Journal of Applied Entomology. 137:214-224. DOI 10.1111/j.1439-0418.2012.01715.x.

Interpretive Summary: Codling moth is the major insect pest attacking apple in the United States and is an important quarantine pest. New management programs being developed for codling moth using dispensers releasing both sex pheromone and pear ester for mating disruption require accurate monitoring of pest population densities. ARS researchers at the USDA, ARS, Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory, Wapato, WA and Albany, CA in collaboration with Trécé Inc, Adair, OK tested the use of alternative lures to monitor both sexes of moths in these orchards. The addition of an acetic acid co-lure to the standard sex pheromone plus pear ester lure significantly increased female moth catches. Results suggest that growers can use this new lure to more effectively monitor codling moth in their sex pheromone plus pear ester-based management programs.

Technical Abstract: Lures for monitoring codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.), were tested in apple and walnut blocks treated with Cidetrak CM-DA Combo dispensers loaded with pear ester, ethyl (E, Z)-2,4-decadienoate (PE), and sex pheromone (E,E)-8,10-dodecadien-1-ol (codlemone). Total and female moth catches with combinations of codlemone, plant volatiles, and acetic acid (AA) lures were compared. Lures were also evaluated in untreated apple and walnut and apple treated with codlemone dispensers. Codlemone lures outperformed PE plus AA and were similar to lures combining codlemone and PE (PH-PE) in untreated blocks. PH-PE outperformed codlemone in apple treated with codlemone dispensers, but codlemone outperformed PH-PE during the 2nd moth generation in apple treated with combo dispensers. Combining AA with PE significantly increased moth catch and together these lures performed similarly to PH-PE in all three dispenser treatments in apple. However, combining AA and PH-PE lures did not increase moth catches. The addition of AA to any lure except codlemone significantly increased the catch of females in both crops. Codlemone outperformed PH-PE lures in apple but not in walnut treated midseason with combo dispensers. Adding AA to either PE or PH-PE created a similarly attractive lure in blocks treated with combo dispensers. (E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene plus codlemone and AA performed as well as any lure in apple treated with combo dispensers. Lures loaded with either (E,E)-farnesol, (E)-ß-farnesene or DMNT plus codlemone performed significantly better than PH-PE in apple treated with combo dispensers in the first generation; and when combined with AA only DMNT plus codlemone performed similarly to PH-PE.