Journal of Applied Entomology - Zeitschrift für angewandte Entomologie (2002) 126, 431-435

U.T. Koch, A.M. Cardé and R.T. Cardé (2002)
Calibration of an EAG system to measure airborne concentration of pheromone formulated for mating disruption of the pink bollworm moth, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) (Lep., Gelechiidae)
Journal of Applied Entomology - Zeitschrift für angewandte Entomologie 126 (7-8), 431-435
Abstract: Electroantennogram (EAG) devices, used to measure airborne pheromone density in mating disruption experiments, so far have provided only 'relative units' of concentration rather than absolute concentration values. This paper describes a technique to measure the amount of pheromone delivered by calibration syringes into the Kaiserslautern EAG pheromone measurement device, thereby allowing such relative units of concentration to be converted into absolute concentrations. The synthetic pheromone used in these calibrations is of Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), the pink bollworm moth, and consists of a 1 : 1 mix of (Z,Z)- and (Z,E)-7,11-hexadecadienyl acetates. The syringe, driven as in field use, delivers its pheromone-air mixture into a glass capillary where it is adsorbed. The amount of pheromone trapped is measured by gas chromatography. The results show a linear relationship between the ratio of pheromone : silicone oil in a syringe and the pheromone concentration in the air puffs it generates. Efficacious mating disruption of P. gossypiella in cotton occurs with 10^-6 relative EAG units, which corresponds to an aerial pheromone density of 1.7 ± 0.15 ng/m³.
(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): Ring T. Cardé

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

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Pectinophora gossypiella