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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 #317498
Title: Behavioral assay on Asian citrus psyllid attraction to orange jasmine

Author
item Hall, David
item Hentz, Matthew
item Patt, Joseph - Joe

Submitted to: Journal of Insect Behavior
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/23/2015
Publication Date: 9/30/2015
Citation: Hall, D.G., Hentz, M.G., Patt, J.M. 2015. Behavioral assay on Asian citrus psyllid attraction to orange jasmine. Journal of Insect Behavior. 28:555-568.

Interpretive Summary: The Asian citrus psyllid is an important pest of citrus because it transmits a bacterium responsible for huanglongbing (=citrus greening disease), a devastating incurable disease of citrus. Research on psyllid chemical ecology is of interest with respect to identifying attractants and repellents that might be useful for managing the psyllid. We present a laboratory protocol for investigating psyllid attraction and repellency to plant volatiles. Adult psyllids exhibited strong, consistent responses using the assay procedures.

Technical Abstract: The Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) is an important pest because it transmits a bacterium putatively responsible for huanglongbing, a devastating citrus disease. Research on ACP chemical ecology is of interest with respect to identifying attractants and repellents for managing the psyllid. We report on an assay for investigating ACP attraction to plant volatiles associated with its host plant, orange jasmine (Murraya exotica L.). Flush shoots were placed into 25 dram vials, a lid with a small entrance hole was snapped onto each vial, the vials were placed into a small cage, adult ACP were released into the cage, and the location of the adults was determined 24 h later. A positive response required an adult to find and enter a vial. When single males or females were released, they were attracted into vials with flush about 65 percent of the time. At release rates of 25, 50 or 100 adults with 30 repetitions of each rate, relatively large mean percentages of adults (ca. 83 percent) positively responded. ACP can escape from the assay vial and will do so if flush is not present. Working with ACP in empty vials, fluoropolymer resin applied to the inside of vials reduced escapes but did not eliminate them. An entrapment funnel for reducing escapes was tested, but it reduced ACP response rates. A good method of preventing escapes remains to be developed. When two vials of flush were placed in the assay cage and one was treated with a candidate repellent, only 8 percent of adults settled in the vial with the repellent.