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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Kearneysville, West Virginia » Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory » Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #252049

Title: Integration of insecticidal, phagostimulatory, and visual elements of an attract-and-kill system for apple maggot fly (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Author
item Wright, Starker
item Leskey, Tracy
item JACOME, ISABEL - University Of Massachusetts
item PINERO, JAIME - University Of Hawaii
item PROKOPY, RONALD - University Of Massachusetts

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/12/2012
Publication Date: 10/15/2012
Citation: Wright, S.E., Leskey, T.C., Jacome, I., Pinero, J.C., Prokopy, R.J. 2012. Integration of insecticidal, phagostimulatory, and visual elements of an attract-and-kill system for apple maggot fly (Diptera: Tephritidae). Journal of Economic Entomology. 105:1548-1556.

Interpretive Summary: The apple maggot fly is a serious pest of commercial apple production in northeastern and midwestern states, and is a pest of gaining emphasis in both the mid-Atlantic and northwestern apple-growing regions. Because of recent restrictions placed on the use of some broad-spectrum insecticides, there is a need to develop effective alternatives to conventional insecticide treatments for managing apple maggot fly in apple orchards. We evaluated the “reduced-risk” insecticide spinosad as a component for potential inclusion in a visually attractive, spherical trap-based attract-and-kill system. We found that this compound was a useful and durable fly-killing agent, providing approximately 90% kills after first exposure in the laboratory. When combined in a wax-sugar formulation for potential use as a cap for attract-and-kill trap, the lethality was preserved even after being exposed to approximately 22 cm of rainfall. In field trials, use of a cap (red, pink, or white) as part of a spherical trap was no different in terms of visual attractiveness to apple maggot flies compared with full-round red spheres. Based on these results, a prototype attract-and-kill trap deployed in association with attractive apple volatile lures provided protection from apple maggot injury comparable to whole-plot orchard insecticide sprays. These studies demonstrate the potential for behavioral control of apple maggot fly using an attract-and-kill system in commercial apple orchards that could eliminate the need for whole-orchard insecticide sprays.

Technical Abstract: In development of a trap-based control system for apple maggot fly, we evaluated lethality of spinosad in cylindrical and contoured controlled-release caps atop visually stimulating sphere bases. For both trap styles, spinosad at or near 1.0% (a.i.) proved to be a useful and relatively durable fly-killing agent, providing approximately 90% kill of apple maggot flies upon first exposure in laboratory tests. When incorporated into the wax-sugar matrix of the sphere cap, lethal effects of spinosad were preserved through approximately 22.5 cm of simulated rainfall exposure; beyond 30.0 cm of accumulated rainfall exposure, lethality declined rapidly without regard to the toxicant rate. In field trials, we assessed the impact of cap-color degradation on visual response to attracticidal spheres and evaluated the potential of maintenance-free sphere traps for direct control of apple maggot injury in commercial orchards. Contoured sphere cap color (red, pink, or white) had no significant effect on rate of apple maggot fly response to sphere traps when compared with full-round plastic spheres. In commercial-orchard trials, perimeter deployment of odor-baited attracticidal spheres provided protection from apple maggot fly oviposition injury comparable to whole-plot insecticide sprays.