Evaluation of sex pheromone formulations to attract adult male Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Argentina

BRATOVICH C; SALUSO ADRIANA; MURUA GABRIELA; GUERENSTEIN P.G.

Revista de la Sociedad Entomologica Argentina

Sociedad Entomologica Argentina

Año: 2019

1851-7471

Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith) is the most important pest of corn in Argentina. Traps lured with a synthetic version of its female sex pheromone are used to monitor the presence of adults in crops in the Americas. Such monitoring has variable success mainly because the composition of the sex pheromone of populations from distant geographical areas is different, and a synthetic lure has not been developed for each area. The composition of the sex pheromone of the populations found in Argentina is not known. In this work we aimed at improving a monitoring tool for Argentinean farmers, which is now needed. Thus, we tested one commercial (Hercon lure) and three experimental formulations (from the manufacturer ChemTica) of the pheromone to establish if any of those formulations is better than the one currently used (i.e., the commercial ChemTica lure) to attract males of Argentinean populations. Attraction to the synthetic pheromones was tested in a wind tunnel using males from different regions of Argentina. In addition, field tests were carried out in two distant regions of Argentina. One of the experimental formulations from ChemTica and the commercial formulation from Hercon evoked the highest attraction in wind tunnel tests. In field tests, only the Hercon lure captured a significant number of males. Therefore, in this study we found lures evoking higher attraction than the commercial ChemTica lure. However, attraction and capture, even with those lures, did not reach high values..