Pest Management Science (2014) 70, 628-635

Gianfranco Anfora, Silvia Vitagliano, Mattias C. Larsson, Peter Witzgall, Marco Tasin, Giacinto S. Germinara and Antonio De Cristofaro (2014)
Disruption of Phthorimaea operculella (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) oviposition by the application of host plant volatiles
Pest Management Science 70 (4), 628-635
Abstract:
BACKGROUND
Phthorimaea operculella is a key pest of potato. The authors characterised the P. operculella olfactory system, selected the most bioactive host plant volatiles and evaluated their potential application in pest management. The electrophysiological responses of olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) housed in long sensilla trichodea of P. operculella to plant volatiles and the two main sex pheromone components were evaluated by the single-cell recording (SCR) technique. The four most SCR-active volatiles were tested in a laboratory oviposition bioassay and under storage warehouse conditions.
RESULTS
The sensitivity of sensilla trichodea to short-chained aldehydes and alcohols and the existence of ORNs tuned to pheromones in females were characterised. Male recordings revealed at least two types of ORN, each of which typically responded to one of the two pheromone components. Hexanal, octanal, nonanal and 1-octen-3-ol significantly disrupted the egg-laying behaviour in a dose-dependent manner. Octanal reduced the P. operculella infestation rate when used under storage conditions.
CONCLUSIONS
This work provides new information on the perception of plant volatiles and sex pheromones by P. operculella. Laboratory and warehouse experiments show that the use of hexanal, octanal, nonanal and 1-octen-3-ol as host recognition disruptants and/or oviposition deterrents for P. operculella control appears to be a promising strategy.
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Full text of article
Database assignments for author(s): Antonio De Cristofaro, Peter Witzgall, Giacinto Salvatore Germinara, Marco Tasin

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.
	Phthorimaea operculella	Potato (Solanum tuberosum)	Italy