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Pheromone Application

How to apply pheromone

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22 views4 pages

Pheromone Application

How to apply pheromone

Uploaded by

goldenonyeagoziri97
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Study Session 7: Pheromone and its Application

Introduction

Pheromones are chemical volatiles emitted by an organism which elicit response from another
organism of the same species. Pheromones mediate intraspecific interactions within species. They
belong to a group of chemicals known as semiochemicals or communication chemicals. This
larger grouping also includes chemicals that mediate interactions between species called
allelochemicals. allelomones (i.e. kairomone, allomone and synomone) Allomone (which is the
opposite: it benefits the producer and harms the receiver) and asynomone (which benefits both
parties). Kairomone is a chemical substance emitted by an organism and detected by another of
a different species which gains advantage from this, e.g. a parasite seeking a host. Synomones)
(biology) Any substance produced by an individual of one species that benefits both the producer
and the recipient which is of a different species. Pheromones are highly specific, they have
negligible toxicity to non-target species, only very small amounts are required and they can
increase the efficacy of conventional control methods. Moreover, they are simple to used and do
not usually require specialized knowledge. However, despite the fact that over 50 different
pheromones are commercially available for pest control, many more have been identified and
synthesized but have not yet been used.

Types of Pheromones
Sex pheromone. This is used by insects to locate mates. In most cases, it is females that release
the pheromone in order to attract males. The pheromone disperses down-wind and receptive males
then respond via a process known as chemoanemotaxis, i.e. chemically mediated, wind-mediated
movement. The distances over which pheromones are able to elicit a response are situation-and
species-specific. The concentration of pheromone required to elicit a response will also vary with
circumstances and species. Laboratory studies have shown that just one molecule of pheromone
may be enough to elicit a neurological response in a receiving species. Field experiments with
bombycol (sex pheromone of B. mori) have shown that 200 molecules/ml air are enough to elicit
a behavioural response in a down-wind, receptive male. Pheromones are therefore active at very
low concentrations. When males approach females both chemical and visual cues then serve to
bring the individuals together. In pest control, these pheromones have been used extensively to
monitor pest species in order to improve the timing of other control measures such as pesticide
applications.
Aggregation pheromones. These also bring individuals together to mate. However, they may
also serve to overcome host defenses. They have been most extensively used in pest control with
various species of bark beetle.
Alarm pheromones. These are produced in response to attack by predators. They therefore serve
as a warning and generally elicit an escape response in receiving and responsive individuals.

Application of Pheromone in Pest Management

Pheromones can be used in four different ways in pest control.

Pest monitoring with pheromones


Many pest species are now routinely monitored using pheromone traps. Such monitoring is
generally carried out in order to target other control measures or to detect pest presence,
particularly at ports and airports. In addition, monitoring of pest populations may provide more
fundamental data on pest population trends, especially if the monitoring is undertaken on a long-
term basis. These categories are not mutually exclusive and pheromone trap catches may provide
information for more than one category. For example, many farmers in the USA use pheromone
traps over extended periods to monitor pest populations in orchards (pest population trend data)
on a year-round basis. Exactly the same data are also used to make decisions about when to use
pesticides (timing) and they can also be used to determine if control is effective (treatment
efficacy). In the case of the codling moth Cydia pomonella, such monitoring has led to 50 – 75%
reductions in pesticide applications. A threshold of 1-5 moths per trap per week has been
established as the point at which pesticides need to be applied depending upon location.
The most widely used pheromones for monitoring are the sex pheromones produced by
Lepidoptera. One major drawback of this is that only males are caught in traps. The size of the
egg-laying population (females) is thus inferred from the male trap catch. This is not ideal as it has
been shown on many occasions that trap efficiency will decline with an increase in population
density. The reason for this is thought to be enhanced competition (by pheromone traps) with wild
females as the pest population increases. Pheromone traps may therefore be ideal for monitoring
at low pest population densities, but may be less appropriate where pest densities are high. From
a pest control point of view, this will only be relevant if the pest species has a high economic
threshold. These pheromone traps are cheap, simple to use and are highly effective at low
population densities. This makes them ideal for pest detection and for use with economic
thresholds for pesticide application.

Mass trapping of pests with pheromones


The aim of mass trapping is to reduce the pest population below economically damaging levels.
Mass trapping, unlike monitoring, is therefore a pest control measure in its own right. This
technique has been most extensively applied in the control of bark beetles in forestry in which the
pheromones are used to concentrate the beetles on particular trees, which are then felled before the
brood can emerge. Mass trapping, as a technique, is ideal in situations where the pest population
is highly dispersed, where conventional control using pesticides is inappropriate and where the
crop exists as an ‘island’ with a reduced probability of short-term reinvasion by a pest. For
example, the citrus flower moth Prays citri, a pest of lemons in Israel, has been successfully
controlled using the female sex pheromone. Sticky traps, baited with pheromone, are used to mass-
trap male moths. The result is that females remain unfertilized and pesticides are no longer required
to control this pest. This is an exception. The most extensive use of mass trapping has been to
control bark beetles in forestry. Many bark beetles have evolved chemically mediated behaviour
patterns in which both sexes cooperate to attack trees. Beetles are often attracted to trees by both
odours and by pheromones given off by pioneer attackers. The combination of host odours and
attractant pheromones serves to attract the large numbers of beetles that are required to overcome
the host trees’ defences, i.e. the production of resin.

Mating Disruption
Mating disruption, like mass trapping, is a control technique in its own right. The aim of the
technique is to disrupt mating by swamping an area with sex pheromones so that males are unable
to locate females. This may occur because the central nervous systems of responding males may
habituate to the pheromone and so no longer respond to it or because real pheromone trails are
hidden and males simply cannot locate females. Males end up spending almost all their time
following false trails created by pheromone traps. Because sex pheromones are the basis of the
technique it has been most widely applied to lepidopterous pests. The most widely quoted example
of successful mating disruption comprises control of the pink bollworm Pectinophora gossypiella.
The pink bollworm is one of the most important pests of cotton worldwide. It is difficult to control
because newly hatched larvae quickly penetrate the cotton boll and are protected from insecticides.
The sex pheromone of the pink bollworm is a mixture of cis-cis and cis-trans 7,11 –
hexadecadienyl acetate and was first identified in the 1960s. The first trials with this pheromone
took place in the early 1970s when it was shown that traps could reduce mating frequency, leading
to lower larval incidence in bolls and to a reduction in resident adult populations.

Lure and Kill


The simple aim of ‘lure and kill’ strategies is to attract an insect pest to a trap and then to kill that
pest. When a pheromone attracts a pest to a sticky trap, the insect is lured and killed. In the context
of arthropod pest control, it has become common to use the term ‘lure and kill’ to refer to situations
where species are attracted to traps that are baited with an insecticide. The insect spends long
enough at the trap to pick up a lethal dose and so is lured and then killed. Clearly, one big
advantage of this is judicious use of pesticide, i.e. the pest comes to the pesticide rather than the
alternative of trying to target the pest with the pesticide, a process which is often both harmful and
wasteful. It is a technique that has been used with a large number of pest species. Some of the more
notable successes comprise control of the cotton boll weevil and the redbanded leafroller in the
USA. Trials have also been carried out to assay the utility of this approach for the control of
lepidopterous Spodoptera spp. and dipterous Culex spp. In the case of Culex, research has shown
that the pheromone can be combined with a growth regulator. For example, trials in Kenya
demonstrated that spraying pools of water with a combination of oviposition pheromose and
growth regular could result in 100% pupal mortality in the target mosquito population.

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