Wednesday, 17 November 2004 - 10:15 AM
0943

Can we suppress lepidopteran pests in vegetable crops using the attract and kill strategy?

Henry Fadamiro, fadamhy@auburn.edu1, Elly Maxwell, fadamhy@auburn.edu1, and John R McLaughlin, JRMCL2@aol.com2. (1) Auburn University, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, 301 Funchess Hall, Auburn, AL, (2) IPM Development Company, Centennial Campus Partners Building II, 840 Main Campus Drive, Suite # 3590, Raleigh, NC

Diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella), cabbage looper (Trichopulsia ni), and imported cabbageworm (Pieris rapae) are among the most serious pests of cole crops in the United States. Many of the conventional insecticides that have traditionally been used to control these pests have been lost through governmental regulation or pest resistance. The most widely used biologically based control strategy in cole crops is formulated sprays of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). However, there is increasing concern over the development of pest resistance to Bt. Integrating Bt sprays with another biologically based strategy may have the potential of reducing the risk of resistance to Bt. The objective of this research is to determine the feasibility of using sex pheromone-based attracticide formulations to control lepidopteran pests in cole crops. We evaluated two sex pheromone-based LastCallTM (attracticide) formulations (IPM Tech. Inc., Portland, Oregon, USA): one for P. xylostella and one for T. ni. Laboratory tests showed that male moths of each species were able to locate and make contact with conspecific LastCallTM droplets, and that minimal contact with LastCallTM resulted in significant moth mortality. In field evaluations, we recorded suppression of trap catch, and significant reductions in larval infestations and crop damage in LastCallTM-treated plots, compared to untreated plots. Damage ratings for cabbage heads and collards in LastCallTM-treated plots were similar to ratings in Bt plots, and both were significantly lower than in control plots. These results suggest that applications of sex pheromone-based LastCallTM formulations for P. xylostella and T. ni can provide control levels comparable to Bt.


Species 1: Lepidoptera Noctuidae Trichoplusia ni (cabbage looper)
Species 2: Lepidoptera Plutellidae Plutella xylostella (diamondback moth)
Keywords: attracticide

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