Olfactory response of southern green stink bug and redbanded stink bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) to spinosad

Stink bugs continue to be one of the major pests impacting soybean production and, in the past, the southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula L., has had the greatest economic impact.  However, Mid-South soybean producers are now faced with a new pest, the redbanded stink bug, Piezodorus guildinii (Westwood).  In the literature, there is evidence that green and brown stink bugs are attracted to spinosad.  This attraction could be used to concentrate stink bugs in order to slow field colonization and further concentrate stink bugs for site-specific targeting with insecticides.  In order to test this, odor-mediated preference of southern green stink bug and redbanded stink bug males and females toward three different commercial spinosad products; Tracer®, Entrust®, and Radiant® SC, and technical grade spinosad was investigated using a Y-tube assay.  Each product was tested at concentrations equivalent to recommended field applications (Entrust®: 599 ppm a.i., Tracer®: 690 ppm a.i., Radiant® SC: 365 ppm a.i., and Technical grade spinosad: 600 ppm a.i.).  For the southern green stink bug, results showed a significant preference toward Entrust (χ2 (1, n=100) = 7.84, P = 0.005) and Technical Grade (χ2 (1, n=100) = 5.76, P = 0.016), but was not significant to Tracer (χ2 (1, n=100) = 0, P = 1) and Radiant SC (χ2 (1, n=100) = 0.36, P = 0.548).  Redbanded stink bug was not attracted to any treatment; (Entrust: χ2 (1, n=104) = 1.88, P = 0.1698; Tracer: χ2 (1, n=106) = 0.94 P = 0.3314; Radiant SC: χ2 (1, n=111) = 0.22  P = 0.6351); Technical Grade: χ2 (1, n=114) = 1.44, P = 0.708. The implications of these findings are discussed.