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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fort Pierce, Florida » U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory » Subtropical Insects and Horticulture Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #304901

Title: Developing and implementing mating disruption for area-wide control of citrus leafminer and citrus canker disease

Author
item Lapointe, Stephen

Submitted to: Florida Entomological Society Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/18/2014
Publication Date: 8/6/2014
Citation: Lapointe, S.L. 2014. Developing and implementing mating disruption for area-wide control of citrus leafminer and citrus canker disease [abstract]. Florida Entomological Society Annual Meeting. August 3-6, 2014. Jupiter, Florida.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Successful development and commercial launch of the first semiochemical-based control method for a major exotic insect pest and associated disease of citrus in Florida have resulted from vigorous collaboration between university and government researchers with support from private industry and innovative funding from the citrus industry. A single application of the triene component [(Z,Z,E)-7,11,13-hexadecatrienal] of the binary sex pheromone of the leafminer (Phyllocnistis citrella) provided trap catch disruption as long as 8 months and significant reductions in the number of active mines. In 2014, we applied slow-release devices (DCEPT CLM™, ISCA Technologies Inc., Riverside, CA) to deliver approximately 140 mg/acre (350 mg/ha) of the triene to ~3,000 acres in three commercial groves in southeast and southwest Florida. Groves were chosen to provide a contrast between treated areas surrounded by untreated leafminer-infested citrus and treated areas isolated from leafminer host plants and therefore from sources of immigration by gravid P. citrella females. We hypothesize that control of mining and associated canker will increase with increasing scale of application. An area-wide approach seems particularly appropriate for this pest and disease complex. The Citrus Research and Development Foundation provided a subsidy to early adopters through their Commercial Product Delivery Committee to promote commercial launch of this alternative to repeated applications of broad-spectrum insecticides. Results from the 2013 and 2014 trials will be presented.