Research Information System
JOURNAL OF PEST SCIENCE, vol.88, no.2, pp.311-319, 2015 (SCI-Expanded)
Studies were conducted in two apple orchards in 2009 and 2010 to examine whether the efficacy of mating disruption can be improved by co-applying microencapsulated (MEC) pear ester (DA-MEC) and codlemone (Ph-MEC) in comparison to DA-MEC and Ph-MEC treatments alone. Combined applications were made at a rate of 5 g a.i ha(-1) DA-MEC + 25 g a.i ha(-1) Ph-MEC in HV (635 L water ha(-1)) and ULV (40 L water ha(-1)) sprays. Moth catches were monitored weekly with delta-style traps containing 3 mg each of codlemone and pear ester. Moths in DA-combo traps were sexed and females were dissected to determine mating status. Codling moth catches did not differ significantly between the ULV and HV sprays of DA-MEC + Ph-MEC. The combinational MEC-treatments applied in both spray volume maintained good trap shutdown, each averaging 85 % reduction in moth capture over distant control orchards. While DA-MEC and Ph-MEC treatments alone disrupted male codling moth orientation to traps by 43 and 61 %, respectively. In the DA-MEC, Ph-MEC and combinational blocks, DA-combo traps caught a lower percentage (9-14 %) of female moths than those placed in both untreated and insecticide-treated blocks. In July and September, fruit damage was evaluated by visually inspecting a total of 1,200 randomly chosen fruits per orchard. Depending on the spray volume used, the combined MEC sprays reduced the number of fruits infested with larvae by 85-93 % compared with untreated control. In conclusion, DA-MEC can effectively augment pheromone mating disruption and offers additional control option for integrated pest management programmes.