Use of Pheromones and Kairomones

in Pest management

& Standard experimental designs

Oscar E. Liburd, Ph.D

Professor of Entomology

Department of Entomology

University of Florida

Uses of pheromones in pest management

1) To monitor populations of insect pests

2) They are used in attract-kill-programs

3) To prevent mating in orchards

pestmortem.com/pherotrap.html

Sex pheromones - Usually produced by females to attract males

for mating, but they may also be produced by males to

attract females

Aggregation pheromones – responsible for the aggregation /

congregation of insects at food sites or reproductive habitats.

They are very common in bark beetles

Trail-marking pheromones – These chemicals are produced by

ants and termites which allow other members of the colony

to follow or locate their position

Alarm pheromones – Common in social insects such as ants and

bees. They stimulate attack or retreat behaviors

Types of Pheromones

Sex pheromones

Detection of sex pheromones

Antennae

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=8qyuSFMBq8ilLM&tbnid=XZtDb5c6VCLc7M:&ved=0CAgQjRwwAA&url=http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-53025/Like-other-insects-moths-and-butterflies-have-four-wings-six&ei=P9T-UZr1Bo_Y9QTMnIAw&psig=AFQjCNEKOWRO7iThEAadycOMPloVU9V4XQ&ust=1375741375183919

Pheromone versus non-pheromone trap

How does mating disruption works?

Washington State Univ

1) Hand-applied dispensers

Rate: 200-500 / acre

2) Aerosol emitters

Rate: 1-2 / acre

3) Sprayable microencapsulated formulations

Commercially available disruption techniques

Greatly magnified

Photo credit: ISCA Tech.

Stelinski 2007

Grape root borer study using different deployment techniques

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Grape root borer study using different deployment tech

Rubber septum

release device

Baited sticky

trap

Methods to evaluate pheromone efficacy

Trap-shut down

Fruit injury counts

Counting of pupal skins

Dissecting females to

determine whether or not

they have mated

Mechanisms in mating disruption

Sensory fatigue

unresponsive receptors on antennae

habituation in central nervous system

False trail-following – male moths follow synthetic pheromone

plume as opposed to the plume from a

female moth

LastCallGRB®

Newly applied versus 6 wk

Attract-and-kill systems with pheromone

A pest control device consisting mainly of an attractant and a toxicant

3 droplets per vine

Contained 0.16% of

the GRB pheromone

and 6% Pyrocide

Mating disruption control techniques

Advantages

Disadvantages

Specific

Long Lasting

Difficult for insects to

develop resistance

Non-toxic

Mostly effective for low to

moderate pest populations

Can be costly

Does not kill pest (immigration)

Not a stand alone control

method

Conducting an Experiment

Hypothesis

Reduced-risk pesticides can effectively suppress populations of

cranberry tipworm in blueberries

Specific Objectives

• Evaluate conventional and reduced-risk insecticides for their

effectiveness in controlling cranberry tipworm / blueberry gall

midge

• To identify potential reduced-risk insecticides that can be used in

an IPM program for controlling cranberry tipworm / blueberry

gall midge

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Plot Treatment

Randomized Complete Block Design

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Experimental Field

Plot Treatment

Completely Randomized Design

Split Plot Design

Whole plot treatment (two insecticides) and subplot (4 varieties)

Malathion Bt

Rep 1 Rep 3 Rep 2

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