An attract‐and‐kill system to control Carpophilus spp. in Australian stone fruit orchards

Abstract

During two growing seasons, the use of an attract‐and‐kill system for control of Carpophilus spp. (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) and the effective range or drawing power of the attract‐and‐kill stations were examined in stone fruit orchards in the Goulburn Valley, northern Victoria, Australia. Three attract‐and‐kill stations, baited with synthetic aggregation pheromone plus co‐attractant, were placed about 50 m apart in the upwind corner of each treated block 5–6 weeks before the fruit began to ripen. Large numbers of Carpophilus spp. were caught in the attract‐and‐kill stations immediately after placement. By the time fruit had ripened, the number of Carpophilus spp. caught had decreased greatly. Fruit damage caused by Carpophilus spp. in treated blocks, especially in 2000–2001 season, was almost zero (0.1% and 0.6%) in trees and on the ground, respectively, whereas the damage levels in control blocks were 5.2% and 19.9% in trees and on the ground, respectively. This study indicates that excellent protection of ripening stone fruit may be achieved by using attract‐and kill‐stations.

Establishing the behavioral basis for an attract-and-kill strategy to manage the invasive Halyomorpha halys in apple orchards

“…Attract-and-kill systems have been developed with some level of success for other pests, including olive fruit flies (Bactrocera oleae (Rossi): Mazomenos et al 2002), alfalfa looper (Autographa californica (Speyer): Camelo et al 2007), apple maggot fly (Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh): Wright et al 2012), plum curculio (Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst): Leskey et al 2008), and sap beetles (Carpophilus spp. : Hossain et al 2005). The two-component aggregation pheromone for H. halys has recently been identified as (3S,6S,7R,10S)-10,11-epoxy-1-bisabolen-3-ol and (3R,6S,7R,10S)-10,11-epoxy-1-bisabolen-3-ol in a 3.5:1 ratio (Khrimian et al 2014).…”

Pests and Diseases of Australian Stone Fruit and Their Management

“…An example of t his is the development of a lure-and-kill system for the control of Carpophilus beetles based on aggregation pheromones (Hossain & Williams, 2005;Hossain et al, 2006). This system has proven highly successful in field t rials and commercial release is expected.…”

Potential to reduce the spatial density of attract and kill traps required for effective control of Carpophilus spp. (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) in stone fruit in Australia

“…All traps were serviced weekly until 2 weeks after harvest and Carpophilus spp. were collected and counted in the laboratory as described by Hossain et al (2006).…”

“…without having to spray the crop would reduce the risk of residue violations, enhance the potential for biological control of other pests and potentially reduce production costs. Hossain et al (2006) demonstrated that three attract and kill (A&K) traps, baited with synthetic aggregation pheromone plus co-attractant, placed in the up-wind corner of one ha plots 5-6 weeks before fruit began to ripen, effectively reduced the population of carpophilus and protected crops to an equivalent or better level than achieved by spraying pesticides. The pheromone components of the three economically important Carpophilus species are given in Bartelt (1999) and the components of the synthetic co-attractant are given in Bartelt and Hossain (2006).…”

“…in stone fruit (Kable 1969). They are serious pests of stone fruits, cherries and some berries in Australia (James et al 1996(James et al , 1997Hossain et al 2006Hossain et al , 2008 destroying $20-50 m of crop in Victoria alone. Due to their size and behaviour it is very difficult to detect them until fruit start to colour.…”