Abstract
Host plant-derived esters were investigated as potential female-specific attractants for the codling moth (CM), Cydia pomonella (L.), a key pest of apples worldwide. The behavioural effects of single and combined volatile compounds and of a natural odour blend were examined using olfactometry and wind-tunnel bioassays. The apple-derived volatile butyl hexanoate attracted mated females while it was behaviourally ineffective for males over a dosage range of more than three orders of magnitude in olfactometer assays. Female CM preferred this kairomone to the headspace volatiles from ripe apples. Both no-choice and choice trials in the wind-tunnel suggested that female moths might be effectively trapped by means of this compound. In contrast, headspace volatiles collected from ripe apple fruits as well as a blend containing the six dominant esters from ripe apples were behaviourally ineffective. A female-specific repellency was found for the component hexyl acetate in the olfactometer, but this ester had no significant effect in the wind-tunnel. Butyl hexanoate with its sex-specific attraction should be further evaluated for monitoring and controlling CM females in orchards.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. R. Kaiser (Givaudan-Roure, Duebendorf, Switzerland), who provided many of the standards for the GC-MS analysis, and Drs. K. Tschudi-Rein and J. Samietz for useful comments. A patent application by S. Dorn and A. Hern has been filed for this discovery.
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Hern, A., Dorn, S. A female-specific attractant for the codling moth, Cydia pomonella, from apple fruit volatiles. Naturwissenschaften 91, 77–80 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-003-0484-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-003-0484-6