Journal of Economic Entomology (2009) 102, 1108-1115

Luís A.F. Teixeira, John C. Wise, Larry J. Gut and Rufus Isaacs (2009)
Paraffin wax emulsion for increased rainfastness of insecticidal bait to control Rhagoletis pomonella (Diptera: Tephritidae)
Journal of Economic Entomology 102 (3), 1108-1115
Abstract: In regions with a humid summer climate, the use of water-soluble bait to control apple maggot is often limited by rainfall. We studied increasing the rainfastness of GF-120 fruit fly bait by adding paraffin wax emulsion. First, we verified that adding 10% wax to a mixture containing 16.7% GF-120 did not reduce the mortality of female apple maggot compared with GF-120 without wax. In addition, we determined that fly mortality caused by GF-120 plus wax subjected to simulated rain was similar to that caused by GF-120 without wax not subjected to rain. Other assays showed that higher fly mortality resulted from increasing the proportion of wax from 10 to 15%, and lower mortality resulted from decreasing GF-120 from 16.7 to 10 or 5%. The availability of spinosad on or near droplets of a mixture consisting of 5, 10, or 15% GF-120 and 15% wax was determined before and after the droplets were subjected to three 15-min periods of simulated rain. We found an initial steep decline in dislodgeable spinosad and smaller decreases after subsequent periods of rain. In a small-plot field trial, fruit infestation by apple maggot in plots treated with a mixture consisting of 16.7% GF-120 and 19.2% wax was less than in plots treated with 16.7% GF-120 without wax but not less than in control plots. Overall, we found that adding paraffin wax emulsion to GF-120 increased rainfastness in laboratory bioassays, and specifically that it retained the active ingredient spinosad. However, our field data suggest that optimal rainfastness requires the development of mixtures with >19.2% wax, which may preclude application using standard spray equipment.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Rufus Isaacs, John C. Wise

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
control - general

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Rhagoletis pomonella	Apple (Malus)	U.S.A. (NE)