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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Hilo, Hawaii » Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center » Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #291451
Title: A potential field suppression system for Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel

Author
item Chang, Chiou
item CHO, IL - University Of Hawaii
item LI, QING - University Of Hawaii
item Manoukis, Nicholas
item Vargas, Roger

Submitted to: Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/26/2013
Publication Date: 9/6/2013
Citation: Chang, C.L., Cho, I.K., Li, Q.X., Manoukis, N., Vargas, R.I. 2013. A potential field suppression system for Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel. Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology. 16(4):513-519.

Interpretive Summary: Development of an effective and safe detection and control system is important for pest management. Attractants for male tephritid fruit flies, e.g., methyl eugenol (ME), is currently used in fruit fly control in combination with pesticides. Most of pesticides are not environmentally-friendly although some of the pesticides can serve as a good fruit fly control tool. A single formulation that possesses both atrractant and killing properties would improve control methods disirably, cost efficiently, and environmentally-friendly.

Technical Abstract: We first observed attraction by oriental fruit flies to a basil plant in a yard and confirmed the attractiveness to basil oil (BO) in the laboratory. We subsequently identified the insecticidal compounds from BO that could kill three species of tephritid fruit flies in the laboratory, and discovered physiological interactions between BO constituents and male parapheromones. We developed a single package opf BO+ME formulation (4:1) that possesses "attract and kill" properties in combination with a modified AWPM standard trap for field application. The effeciveness of this formulation is depending on the type of the trap and the weather condition (sunny or not sunny). The attracted flies were killed within 2 h after entering a BO+ME trap. The combination of BO, ME, and clear trap may be a novel alternative for a cost-effective, environmentally-friendly fruit fly control system.