Specialized Pheromone and Lure Application Technology as an Alternative Male Annihilation Technique to ManageBactrocera tryoni(Diptera: Tephritidae)

Abstract

The results of this study suggest that a novel male annihilation technique (specialized pheromone and lure application technology [SPLAT] incorporating cue-lure [CL] plus spinosad) is as effective as industry standard male annihilation controls, and is worth exploring further to manageBactrocera tryoni(Froggatt) populations. Three lures were evaluated in a contact and feeding bioassay and a cage attractancy trial: 1) SPLAT-CL + spinosad; 2) SPLAT-CL without spinosad; and 3) wick-CL + malathion. In a field attraction trial, lures (1) and (3) were evaluated with a third treatment, caneite blocks-CL + malathion. Lures were weathered for 0, 1, 2, 4, or 8 wk, with an additional weathering treatment of 12 wk included in the field trial. In the contact and feeding bioassay, lures with SPLAT-CL + spinosad were >97% effective at 48 h for up to 2 wk weathering; however, wicks-CL + malathion killedB. tryoniwithin 2 h of exposure under all weathering periods. In the cage attractancy trial, SPLAT-CL + spinosad was as effective as, or performed better than, wicks-CL + malathion under all weathering treatments. The field study trap catches were similar for SPLAT-CL + spinosad and blocks-CL + malathion, and both had higher trap catches than wicks-CL + malathion at all weathering periods, except week 12. Overall, SPLAT-CL + spinosad compared favorably with current standard techniques for male annihilation and warrants further research. SPLAT-CL + spinosad may be a reduced-risk alternative for wicks-CL + malathion or blocks-CL + malathion forB. tryoniand other CL-responding fruit flies, such asBactrocera cucurbitaeCoquillett, because it contains a reduced-risk insecticide that poses a lower risk to humans and the environment and does not require labor-intensive handling and placement.

Efficacy of Chemicals for the Potential Management of the Queensland Fruit Fly Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae)

“…Worldwide, many successful tephritid management programs rely upon a combination of in-field techniques, often as part of an area-wide management program [42,43,44,45,46,47]. These include combinations of parasitoids [48,49,50], sterile insect technique (SIT) [42,51,52,53], male annihilation technique [54,55], protein bait sprays [56,57], female-biased attractants [58,59], crop or host sanitation [47,56], and cover sprays [8,60]. In Australia, although chemical cover sprays have played a major role in B. tryoni management over the past decades, we are seeing programs that increasingly rely on SIT, MAT, and protein bait spray [2].…”

Diversity and sex differences in rectal gland volatiles of Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Diptera: Tephritidae)

“…unidentified peaks in the long-Rt range were, however, above 10% of summed peak areas in one or other of the two female categories (S2 Table ). Most of the peaks in the long-Rt range in both sexes were minor (67) or intermediate (59) in abundance.…”

“…cuelure and raspberry ketone, respectively), which are plant polypropanoids [65,66]. Cuelure is a strong attractant for male Qflies (as is raspberry ketone) and is widely used as a lure in traps also containing insecticide for monitoring and population suppression [67][68][69][70]. When ingested, cuelure is transported through the haemolymph to the rectal gland, where it is stored in its hydrolysed form as raspberry ketone, while ingested raspberry ketone is transported and stored in unaltered form [62,71].…”

Fruit fly management research: A systematic review of monitoring and control tactics in the world

“…B. dorsalis was the main species included in MAT studies (Table 3). These studies evaluated the use of attractants and insecticides for male capture (Ndlela et al, 2016;Reynolds et al, 2016;Vargas et al, 2012Vargas et al, , 2015. The impact of methyl eugenol and malathion, used for MAT was evaluated on non-target insects during the eradication program for Bactrocera carambolae Drew and Hancock (Vayssières et al, 2007).…”