MONOLITHIC MATRIX DISPENSERS FOR MEGAPLATYPUS MUTATUS PHEROMONES BASED ON NATURAL AND BIODEGRADABLE WAXES AND THEIR EVALUATION IN A FIELD TRIAL

M. SLODOWICZ; E. CERIANI NAKAMURAKARE; C. CARMARAN ; P. GONZÁLEZ AUDINO

Congreso; International Chemical Ecology Conference 2013 (7-th biannual meeting Asia-Pacific Association of Chemical Ecologists& 29-th annual meeting International Society of Chemical Ecology); 2013

We have developed monolithic matrix devices in a half sphere shape for controlled release of the Megaplatypus mutatus known pheromones name sulcatone, sulcatol and 3-pentanol. The devices were made with different mixtures of mainly biodegradable or natural waxes or lipids and inert compounds. The bases were paraffins of different melting points, paraffin oil, polyethylene glycols, pentaerythritol ester, lanolin and carnauba wax. The inert sustances employed were: kaolin, glass spheres, molecular sieves and activated charcoal. The release rates of these monolithic systems were measured in the lab in a wind tunnel. Pheromone release rates were plotted and they followed first-order kinetics according to the ecuation y = ae-b√t. We determined solubility coefficients of matrices in toluene and 2-pentanol to obtain a quotient between the solubilities of the waxes for posterior correlations. We found positive correlations between the release rates with physicochemical parameters as viscosity, log P and solubility and different amounts of inert substances. For mating disruption field trials in a poplar plantation field, we tested half sphere shape monolithic dispensers made of waxes: carnauba wax for sulcatol and 3-pentanol, and paraffin wax m.p.70-80ºC for sulcatone, using kaolin as inert in an amount of 30% in all the cases.