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boosts senior romance Pheromone Formula Best at Luring Fall
Armyworms
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Pheromone Formula Best at Luring Fall
Armyworms
April 15, 2005
UNIVERSITY
PARK, PA - Researchers at Penn State optimized a commercial
pheromone lure to trap fall armyworms with improved precision, and
now the technology is being used across three states in the
northeast.
The fall
armyworm is a significant pest of sweet corn and other vegetable
crops. They typically over winter along the Gulf Coast and migrate
into Pennsylvania in late July to mid-August. Regional monitoring
programs are being developed to map the annual migration of the pest
(http://www.pestwatch.psu.edu).
These monitoring programs map male moth captures from traps baited
with sex pheromones.
Sex pheromone
traps are commonly used in integrated pest management (IPM) systems.
These traps allow a grower to determine the status of a pest
population in the field. Armed with this knowledge, the grower can
make better decisions, reducing pesticide sprays and improving
profits.
IPM aims to
manage pests -- such as insects, diseases, weeds and animals -- by
combining physical, biological and chemical tactics that are safe,
profitable and environmentally compatible.
According to
Shelby Fleischer, professor of entomology at Penn State and a
researcher on the project, the majority of commercially available
pheromone lures recruit large numbers of non-targeted species in the
northeast. "This can dramatically compromise monitoring efforts of
the fall armyworm," explains Dr. Fleischer.
Several other
moths in the cutworm family look very similar to the fall armyworm,
making identification of trapped pests even more difficult. "It is
important to distinguish between the different species because while
the fall armyworm is a significant pest of sweet corn, many other
cutworm species feed only on grasses. High trapcounts of a
non-targeted species may result in unnecessary pesticides sprays,"
says Fleischer.
In addition,
fall armyworm larvae are difficult and expensive to control, making
proper pest identification even more important. "Corn plants are
often too tall to spray with conventional ground rigs and a large
volume of water is usually needed," Dr. Fleischer explains.
Dr. Fleischer
worked with Penn State researchers John Grehan, Chris Harding and
Paul Blom; and Jeffrey White from private industry to compile
specific features of different pheromone lures to develop new ones.
"Through this process we determined that while the two-component
lure captured smaller numbers of fall armyworms, it also captured
far fewer non-targeted pests, making it the most promising lure for
future development," Dr. Fleischer explains.
The pheromone
lure, called the "FAW-PSU", is currently being used in Pennsylvania,
Maryland and Maine. |
Pheromones
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Sensual Signals:
Some scientists believe they could be the key to choosing a suitable
lover.
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