Large-scale mating disruption of citrus leafminer for validation and product launch

Large-scale mating disruption of citrus leafminer for validation and product launch

Report Date: 10/15/2015
Project: 926.2C   Year: 2015
Category: ACP Vector
Author: Lukasz Stelinski
Sponsor: Citrus Research and Development Foundation

The large-scale validation of citrus leafminer (CLM) disruption with the ISCA DCEPT CLM technology is coming to an end for the 2015 season. We are currently in the process of finishing data collection to determine how much better the technology worked on a larger scale as compared with previous seasons. Our most recent data collection was last week. Over the course of our previous investigations, we have found that pheromone application during the dormant winter season did not prove useful for reducing leaf mining in the spring as compared with a spring application alone. Mating disruption of CLM on a small scale is presently only minimally effective in reducing leaf infestation in citrus groves in Florida, despite effective disruption of male moth catch in monitoring traps. Mining of leaves in treated plots may have derived from inadequate disruption of mating in the upper canopy of trees or influx of mated females from neighboring areas, or because of dissipation of pheromone near edges of treated areas. Inadequate disruption in tops of trees could be mitigated by placing pheromone dispensers higher within canopies of trees. We hypothesized that dissipation of pheromone due to edge effects could be mitigated by increasing size of the treated area or by increasing density of dispensers near edges of treated areas. Insecticide applications near borders might also improve control of this species within pheromone-treated areas. Our earlier results corroborated previous investigations and suggested that management of CLM with mating disruption on a small scale may be ineffectual. Our results point to the likely need for large-scale area wide treatments for effective mating disruption of CLM. Such area-wide applications were conducted this season. We are still collecting mating disruption data on this project–both disruption of trap catch and reduction of leafmining injury. These data will still need to be analyzed during the remainder of the project.


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