Activity evaluation of cocoa pod borer sex pheromone in cacao fields

Zhang, Aijun, Kuang, Lip Foo, Maisin, Navies, Karumuru, Bhanu, Hall, David R., Virdiana, Ike, Lambert, Smilja, Bin Purung, Hussin, Wang, Shifa and Hebbar, Prakash (2008) Activity evaluation of cocoa pod borer sex pheromone in cacao fields. Environmental Entomology, 37 (3). pp. 719-724. ISSN 0046-225X (print), 1938-2936 (online)

Abstract

The previously identified female sex pheromone of cocoa pod borer, Conopomorpha cramerella, was re-evaluated for its attractive activity in different field conditions. It was found that lures containing 100-μg of synthetic sex pheromone blend, (E,Z,Z)- and (E,E,Z)-4,6,10-hexadecatrienyl acetates, and the corresponding alcohols in a ratio of 40:60:4:6 in a polyethylene vial attracted male C. cramerella moths in Sabah and peninsular Malaysia and in Sumatra and Sulawesi, Indonesia, suggesting that the same pheromone strain existed in a wide stretch of the Indo-Malayan archipelago. Of the three kinds of trap designs tested, the Delta traps were more effective than Pherocon V scale traps. Male captures were not significantly different among traps baited with 100-, 300-, or 1,000-μg doses of sex pheromone. A release rate study of pheromone formulation conducted in the laboratory showed that volatile active ingredients were desorbed from polyethylene vials following first-order kinetics, which indicates a satisfactory "half-life time" of a 100-μg loading is ≈6 wk under laboratory conditions. A satisfactory attractiveness of the lure with a 100-μg loading was ≈1-2 mo in the fields.

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