Activity evaluation of cocoa pod borer sex pheromone in cacao fields.
The previously identified female sex pheromone of cocoa pod borer, Conopomorpha cramerella, was re-evaluated for its attractive activity in different field conditions. It was found that lures containing 100-mug of synthetic sex pheromone blend, (E,Z,Z)- and (E,E,Z)-4,6,10-hexadecatrienyl acetates, and the corresponding alcohols in a ratio of 40:60:4:6 in a polyethylene vial attracted male C. cramerella moths in Sabah and peninsular Malaysia and in Sumatra and Sulawesi, Indonesia, suggesting that the same pheromone strain existed in a wide stretch of the Indo-Malayan archipelago. Of the three kinds of trap designs tested, the Delta traps were more effective than Pherocon V scale traps. Male captures were not significantly different among traps baited with 100-, 300-, or 1,000-mug doses of sex pheromone. A release rate study of pheromone formulation conducted in the laboratory showed that volatile active ingredients were desorbed from polyethylene vials following first-order kinetics, which indicates a satisfactory "half-life time" of a 100-mug loading is approximately 6 wk under laboratory conditions. A satisfactory attractiveness of the lure with a 100-mug loading was approximately 1-2 mo in the fields.
USDA-ARS, Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center-West, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA. aijun.zhang@ars.usda.gov
Aijun
A
Zhang
Lip Foo
LF
Kuang
Navies
N
Maisin
Bhanu
B
Karumuru
David R
DR
Hall
Ike
I
Virdiana
Smilja
S
Lambert
Hussin
H
Bin Purung
Shifa
S
Wang
Prakash
P
Hebbar
D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior; D002099:Cacao / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D007214:Indonesia; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D009036:Moths / Q000502:physiology*; D012724:Sex Attractants / Q000502:physiology*
D012724:Sex Attractants