ARS | Publication request: Evaluation of traps and lures for codling moth (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in apple orchards

Submitted to: Chilean Journal of Agricultural Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: October 10, 2012
Publication Date: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Codling moth is the major insect pest attacking apple in the United States and in other countries and as such is an important quarantine pest affecting world trade. Integrated management programs using sex pheromone dispensers for mating disruption and limited supplemental insecticide applications for codling moth require accurate monitoring of pest population densities. ARS researchers at the USDA, ARS, Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory, Wapato, WA and faculty at the University of Talca, Talca, Chile have tested the use of alternative traps and lures to monitor both sexes of moths. Greater numbers of female moths can be caught with clear versus colored traps and by adding acetic acid lures to the standard lures. Results suggest that growers can use this new trap and lure design to more effectively monitor pest populations within their disrupted orchards and avoid unnecessary insecticide sprays.

Technical Abstract: Studies were conducted to evaluate the use of several trap – lure combinations to improve monitoring of codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), in apple, Malus domestica Bordk. Treatments included the use of clear, orange and white traps baited with one or more of the following attractants: the major sex pheromone component of codling moth, (E,E)-8,10-dodecadien-1-ol (codlemone, PH); a primary volatile constituent of ripe pear, ethyl (E,Z)-2,4-decadienoate (pear ester, PE), and a purported food lure, acetic acid (AA). Studies were conducted in an orchard treated with sex pheromone dispensers in Washington State (USA) and in untreated orchards in the Maule Region of Chile. Both clear and orange traps baited with PE+AA caught significantly more female moths than the same traps baited with PE+PH in the Washington study. The clear trap baited with PE+AA caught nearly 10-fold more females than the orange trap baited with PE+PH. Total moth catch did not differ between traps with either lure type. However, clear traps baited with PE+PH caught 2-fold more total moths than the orange trap baited with PE+AA. Studies conducted in Chile over both moth flights during two field seasons found that the clear trap baited with PE+AA caught more females than orange traps baited with PE+PH. White traps baited with PH caught similar numbers of total moths as orange traps baited with PE+PH in three of the four flight periods. The clear trap baited with PE+AA caught significantly fewer moths than the two treatments including a PH lure in three of the four flight periods. These data suggest that that adoption of PE+AA lures would allow growers to better track the seasonal population dynamics of female codling moth.