Attractiveness of various colored sticky traps to some pollinating insects in apple

Abstract

Sticky colored traps have been widely used for sampling of harmful insects in wild and cultivated plants worldwide. Colored sticky traps could be a simple and a low-cost method for determining the relative abundance of harmful and beneficial insects, including pollinators. However, knowledge about catches of nontargeted insects such as pollinators by colored traps is rudimentary. Trials were conducted to evaluate the attractiveness of various colors (white, yellow, blue, and green) to some pollinating insects in apple in Adana Province, Turkey, during 2011 and 2012. Colored plates were hung at about 1.70 m from ground level of the exterior canopy of the selected trees at the beginning of their blooming and they were positioned toward the 4 cardinal directions. A total of 7 insect species belonging to the families Syrphidae (6 species, Diptera) and Apidae (1 species, Hymenoptera) were identified. Pollinating hoverfly Eristalis tenax L. and honey bee Apis mellifera L. were frequently captured, and significantly more of them were captured on white traps (P < 0.05). Blue and green colored traps were less attractive to both pollinator species. Cardinal directions did not have a significant effect on catches of E. tenax and A. mellifera on white traps. The use of white sticky traps may provide more ecological data for pollinators. However, using white colored traps for mass trapping of harmful insect species in fruit orchards may be risky due to reducing their numbers, particularly during blooming periods of the fruit orchards. Arrangements of sticky trap use prior to peak occurrence of the pollinators would be a better approach in terms of conservation of pollinators and sustainability of ecosystems.

Anthonomus rubi on Strawberry Fruit: Its Biology, Ecology, Damage, and Control from an IPM Perspective

“…The combination of the yellow sticky trap with the synthetic attractant can be promising for both adult monitoring and mass trapping; further studies should take into account the collateral effects on beneficials. In fact, especially for mass trapping implementation, it is fundamental to study the adverse effects upon useful insects and arthropods in light of the strong attractiveness of yellow sticky traps [54][55][56]. In this context, the green color could provide acceptable SBW catches and reduce impact upon beneficials.…”

Detection and monitoring of Thrips meridionalis (Priesner, 1926) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) with the colored sticky traps

“…Although there have been no studies on the color preferences of T. meridionalis, attractiveness of colors has been investigated for many other thrips species (Demirel & Yildirim, 2008;Elekcioglu, 2013;Atakan et al, 2014Atakan et al, , 2016Atakan & Pehlivan, 2015). Thrips have been shown to be most attracted to either white, yellow or blue sticky traps.…”

“…Therefore, thrips are a major economic threat to many plant industries (Sathe et al, 2015). Although colored sticky traps can accidentally capture of beneficial insects, controlling and monitoring of thrips has been commonly done with colored sticky traps (Martin et al, 2011;Atakan & Pehlivan, 2015).…”

Efficacy of Different Coloured Sticky Traps Against Thrips of Chilli

“…Ranamukhaarachchi and Wickramarachchi (2007) reported that blue and white colours were more effective in trapping the thrips, Ceratothripoides claratris followed by purple in tomato. Atakan and Pehlivan (2015) also reported that blue and green coloured trap was observed to be less attractive to pollinating hoverfly and honey bees. This type of experiment has not so far been conducted in Bangladesh.…”

“…Similar trend was observed at 21, 28 and 35 DAI. Atakan and Pehlivan (2015) reported that blue and green coloured trap was observed to be less attractive to pollinating hoverfly and honey bees. Data represent mean of three observations, DAI= Days after installation, Mean followed by the same letter (s) in the same column did not differ significantly from each other at 1% level by DMRT.…”