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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Wooster, Ohio » Application Technology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #94358
Title: DEVELOPMENT OF AN ATTRACTANT FOR THE ROSE CHAFER (COLEOPTERA:SCARAEIDAE) MACRODACTYLUS SUBSPINOSUS (F.)

Author
item WILLIAMS, R - OSU
item FICKLE, D - OSU
item MCGOVERN, T - USDA/ARS MISS. STATE UNIV
item Klein, Michael

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/14/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The rose chafer, a scarab beetle, has been shown to be a serious pest of grapes, flowers, and ornamental plants throughout much of the Eastern United States. Trapping systems have been developed to locate infestations, follow changes in the beetles distribution, and to help suppress beetle populations. There is a continuing interest in examining the effects of various lure combinations, and in improving the captures of rose chafer adults. We conducted a series of lure studies in northern Ohio, and have established that a combination of chemicals (alpha-ionone + hexanoic acid + valeric acid + octyl buterate + trans-2-noneol) was the most effective lure. The information obtained here will give scientists, growers, and regulatory officials new tools to study the distribution and live cycle of this scarab pests, and provide an environmentally friendly suppression agent.

Technical Abstract: Field trials were conducted for several years to determine the best attractant for luring adult rose chafers, Macrodactylus subspinosus (F.), to traps. During 1986, 20 compounds were evaluated in comparison to the standard (valeric acid + hexanoic acid + octyl butyrate 1:1:1) for attractancy to rose chafers. Two new standards were established in 1986: (1) Valeric acid + 1 nonanol 1:1, and (2) valeric acid + hexanoic acid + octyl butyrate + 1 nonanol 1:1:1:1. The next year, 36 compounds were evaluated in comparison to the 1986 standards. The performance of the standard binary lure was improved when the alcohol 1-nonanol was replaced with its analog trans-2-nonanol. In 1988, a test confirmed trans-2-nonanol was better than 1-nonanol in the standard lures. At the same time, a second test was conducted in which 29 new candidates were combined with valeric acid and tested against the 1986 standard valeric acid + hexanoic acid + octyl butyrate + 1 nonanol 1:1:1:1. A check and single treatment of alpha-ionone was included resulting in the discovery of a new more powerful attractant, alpha ionone. Testing of alpha-ionone continued in 1989 at which time old standards and new ones containing trans-2-nonanol were tested against the single attractant alpha-ionone and combinations containing it. Results showed improved lure performance by the addition of alpha-ionone.