Tuesday, December 12, 2006 - 4:35 PM
0885

Sex pheromone for cocoa pod borer (Conopomorpha cramerella) population monitoring

Aijun Zhang, zhanga@ba.ars.usda.gov, USDA-ARS, Plant Sciences Institute, Chemicals Affecting Insect Behavior Laboratory, Bldg. 007, Rm.312, BARC-West, 10300 Baltimore Ave, Beltsville, MD, David Hall, junk8@yahoo.com, University of Greenwich - Medway, Natural Resources Institute, Central Avenue, Kent, United Kingdom, Li Foo Kuang, kuanglf@teckguan.com, Teck Guan Regency, 91000, Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia, Navies Maisin, navie@koko.gov.my, Malaysian Cocoa Board, Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia, Cocoa Research and Development Center, 60237, Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia, Madhura Bhanu, bhanu.krm@pcil.co.in, Bio-Control Research Laboratories, A division of Pest Control (India) Pvt. Ltd, P. O. Box 6426, Yelahanka, Bangalore, India, and Prakash Hebbar, prakash.hebbar@effem.com, Masterfoods USA, USDA-ARS, BARC-West, Building 011A, Room 328, Beltsville, MD.

The previously identified female sex pheromone of cocoa pod borer (CPB), Conopomorpha cramerella (Snellen) (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), was re-evaluated for male attraction in cocoa fields. It was found that the lures containing 100 µg of synthetic pheromone blend, E,Z,Z- and E,E,Z-4,6,10-hexadecatrienyl acetates and the corresponding alcohols (45:55:5:6) were able to attract male moths in Sabah (East Malaysia) and Peninsular (West Malaysia), suggesting that the same pheromone strain of CPB existed in both East and West Malaysia. In addition, trapping results from Indonesia (Sulawesi and Sumatra) and also recently in Papua New Guinea, have shown that the same pheromone blend could attract CPB male moths in these countries. Three kinds of trap designs (Delta, Pherocon 1C, and Pherocon V scale traps) were tested in Malaysia and the Delta and Pherocon 1C traps were shown to be more effective than Pherocon V scale traps. With the aid of pheromone trap as the population monitoring tool, the different CPB management methods currently used in Malaysia have been evaluated. Based on CPB numbers of CPB moths trapped, evidence suggests that pesticides might have reduced the natural enemies and other beneficial insect’s populations in the ecosystem with repeated use of the same class of pesticides. Preliminary data also indicated that use of biological control agents, pod sleeving, and normal agronomic practices currently used in Malaysia against CPB significantly reduced male CPB population when compared to pesticide application. Moreover, among those applied CPB control methods, the biological control agents, egg parasitoid and cocoa black ant, seem to be more efficient than that of pot sleeving and normal agronomic practices.


Species 1: Lepidoptera Gracillariidae Conopomorpha cramerella

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