A wild-type tomato, Lycopersicon hirsutum accession LA 1777, known to be high in sesqueterpene carboxylic acids, a similar accession lower in sesqueterpene carboxylic acids (accession LA 1033), and a commercial tomato cultivar, Lycopersicon lycopersicum ‘Mountain Fresh’, were grown in pots within field cages and in 16-meter square field plots to study the attractiveness of each cultivar to egg-laying H. zea moths and the value of LA 1777 as a trap crop surrounding commercial tomatoes. All trials were conducted at the University of Illinois, Champaign, IL, in the summer of 2002. In replicated trials to assess oviposition, one plant of each of the two wild types and one ‘Mountain Fresh’ plant were placed in field cages approximately 1.8 m square and 1.8 m high, and 50 laboratory-reared moths were released into each of the cages for mating and oviposition. Plants were removed at 2-day intervals until egg laying declined; eggs were counted on all plants taken from the cages. To assess the value of LA 1777 as a trap crop, ‘Mountain Fresh’ was grown in a 4-meter square surrounded by a border 12 meters wide. The border was comprised of LA 1777, LA 1033, or ‘Mountain Fresh’ plants. Fruit was harvested at the ‘mature green’ stage every 3 days from the center of all plots beginning in early September, and injury characteristic of H. zea was compared in the ‘Mountain Fresh’ tomatoes surrounded by the different border crops. Results will be presented in this paper.
Species 1: Lepidoptera Noctuidae Helicoverpa zea (Corn earworm)
Keywords: sesqueterpene carboxylic acids, tomatoes
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