Effect of a Pheromone Antagonist-based Disruption Blend on Dogwood Borer (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) Mate-finding and Infestation in a Commercial Apple Orchard

摘要

The effect of a pheromone antagonist-based disruption blend on disruption of dogwood borer, Synanthedon scitula (Harris), mate-finding behavior and incidence of infestation was evaluated in a commercial apple orchard from 2006 - 2008. Although the pheromone antagonist based disruption blend treatment significantly disrupted-male-mate-finding behavior during-each year of the study, there was a significant increase in the percentage of infested trees from the start to the conclusion of the experiment, likely due to the immigration of mated females from surrounding untreated orchard blocks. In 2007, pheromone-baited traps deployed in an east west transect through the study area showed that capture of male moths increased as the distance from the disruption plot increased. The results of geostatistical analysis indicated that there were high degrees of aggregation in dogwood borer infestations in the study area, with ranges of spatial autocorrelation from 10.2 - 22.5 m. For each year, the spatial distribution of larval infestation was best described by the exponential semiovariogram model. Interpolated surface maps revealed areas of high infestation levels, which were more prevalent within the control 2 plot in 2006 and 2007. Infestation sites increased in size and intensity each year of the study in the disruption and control 1 plot.