SPLAT controlled release semiochemical bait and kill formulations for sustained fruit fly management under humid conditions

The insecticide landscape is changing rapidly in orchard crop production in the US and abroad. This is particularly true for nursery, greenhouse, fruit and nut production where conventional insecticides that form the foundation of fruit fly management programs are being lost. Small growers and growers in developing countries in particular, suffer from this increasing lack of control tools that are effective in their field conditions. Current male annihilation techniques combine male-specific attractants with insecticide in traps that require routine service and/or frequent re-applications due to their short field life caused by environmental factors including sunlight and rain. This usually results in a less efficient, more costly management program. ISCA Technologies’ Specialized Pheromone and Lure Application Technology (SPLAT) was developed for mechanical deployment of semiochemicals to promote a long-lasting field life. Recently, SPLAT was used to create more effective fruit fly control formulations that are rain-fast and provide long-term, controlled release of attractants and pesticides. Laboratory and field experiments were conducted to evaluate the rain-fastness, mortality and longevity of control provided by several formulations of SPLAT containing attractants combined with spinosad or cypermethrin, compared to two standard treatments: GF 120 and local fruit fly attractants with malathion. Experiments were conducted in southern Brazil with the South American fruit fly, Anastrepha fraterculus, a key pest of apple cultivations in the area. Although our results indicate that SPLAT formulations perform as well as the commercial standards for controlling A. fraterculus under experimental conditions, SPLAT formulations demonstrated superior performance under conditions with rainfall.