Simultaneous effective monitoring of Grapholita molesta and Cydia pomonella (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in traps with a dual sex pheromone/kairomone lure plus a UV‐A light

Abstract

Studies of oriental fruit moth (OFM), Grapholita molesta (Busck), and codling moth (CM), Cydia pomonella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), both important pests of pome fruit, evaluated the addition of low‐intensity light‐emitting diode (LED) to delta traps baited with 3 commercial monitoring lures. Studies were conducted in 9 orchards treated with and without sex pheromone mating disruption for one or both species. OFM was monitored with a two‐part pheromone/kairomone lure (OFM Combo Dual), while CM was monitored with either a two‐part kairomone lure (CM Dual 4 K) or a sex pheromone lure (CM PH). Both pests were monitored with or without the addition of three types of a low power LED light with peak intensity at 395 (UV‐A), 458 (blue), and 516 (green) nm. The UV‐A LED was found to be the most effective among the three lights for OFM. Unexpectedly, traps with the OFM Combo Dual lure plus UV‐A LED caught similar numbers of CM as traps baited with the CM Dual 4 K and CM PH lures alone. They also caught other pest species, such as oblique banded leafroller (OBLR), Choristoneura rosaceana (Harris), and peach twig borer (PTB), Anarsia lineatella (Zeller). Interestingly, in different trials the OFM Combo Dual combined with UV‐A LED light caught significantly more OFM and/or CM females compared to the OFM Combo Dual lure without light, opening the perspective for a female‐oriented monitoring and for a “female removal” management approach of these pests. The development of inexpensive, dual‐modality traps adding a light stimulus to a pheromone/kairomone lure may reduce monitoring costs in orchards with multiple moth pests, improving the trapping efficiency.