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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Wapato, Washington » Temperate Tree Fruit and Vegetable Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #289161
Title: Monitoring oriental fruit moth (Lepidoptera:Tortricidae) with the ajar bait trap in pome and stone fruit orchards under mating disruption

Author
item Knight, Alan
item HILTON, RICK - Oregon State University
item BASOALTO, ESTEBAN - Oregon State University
item MOLINARI, FABIO - Catholic University Of The Sacred Heart Italy
item ZOLLER, BROC - The Pear Dcotor Inc
item HANSEN, RANDY - Randy Hansen Agricultural Consulting
item HULL, LARRY - Pennsylvania State University

Submitted to: Journal of Applied Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/9/2013
Publication Date: 5/9/2013
Citation: Knight, A.L., Hilton, R., Basoalto, E., Molinari, F., Zoller, B., Hansen, R., Hull, L. 2013. Monitoring oriental fruit moth (Lepidoptera:Tortricidae) with the ajar bait trap in pome and stone fruit orchards under mating disruption. Journal of Applied Entomology. 137:650-660.

Interpretive Summary: Effective, low-cost monitoring of pests is an important component of developing integrated programs which can minimize the use of insecticides. Researchers at the USDA, ARS, Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory, Wapato, WA in collaboration with researchers at Oregon State University, Penn State University, Catholic University in Piacenza, Italy and private consultants, have developed and tested new trap and lures to monitor oriental fruit moth in peach and apple. The Ajar trap is a more user-friendly trap to monitor both moth sexes. The addition of exclusion grids can help to reduce the catch of nontargets insects that can reduce the effectiveness of the trap. The addition of host plant volatile lures can further increase moth catches. Grower adoption of this trap may allow precision in monitoring this pest and selecting appropriate management tools.

Technical Abstract: Studies in Oregon, California, Pennsylvania, and Italy evaluated the relative performance of the Ajar trap for Grapholita molesta (Busck), in pome and stone fruit orchards treated with sex pheromone dispensers for mating disruption. The Ajar is a delta-shaped trap with a screened jar filled with a terpinyl acetate plus brown sugar bait (TAS) that opens inside the trap and is surrounded by a sticky liner. The Ajar trap was evaluated with and without the addition of a sex pheromone lure and compared with delta traps left unbaited or baited with a sex pheromone lure and a bucket trap filled with the TAS bait. The Ajar trap had a 90% lower evaporation rate of the bait than the bucket trap, but caught similar numbers of both sexes of G. molesta. The addition of the sex pheromone lure did not increase moth catches by the Ajar trap. The Ajar trap caught significantly greater numbers of moths than the sex pheromone-baited delta trap in 19 of the 20 orchards. Few non-target hymenopterans were caught in orange Ajar traps, but the catch of flies and other moths remained high. Flight tunnel tests evaluated several screen designs to exclude the catch of larger non-target species. All exclusion devices tested in the field significantly reduced the catch of other moths. However, designs that did not reduce the catch of male G. molesta did not reduce the catch of muscid flies. Exclusion devices with openings < 7.0 mm significantly reduced the catch of female G. molesta. The addition of (E)-ß-farnesene, (E)-ß-ocimene, or butyl hexanoate in septa lures significantly increased total moth catch. The addition of (E)-ß-ocimene also significantly increased female moth catch.