Development of a Novel Attractant-Baited Sticky Board and Its Application for the Highly Efficient Control of Aleurocanthus spiniferus in Tea Plantations

Abstract

Aleurocanthus spiniferus is an important tea plant pest globally. The effective chemical control of the whitefly is challenging due to its overlapping generations of a large individual number of minuscule wax-covered nymphs and pupae inhabiting the underside of mature leaves within shaded tea bushes. Moreover, the pandemic of tea sooty mold always occurs with its outbreaks. After emergence, whitefly adults engage in mating, ovipositing, excreting honeydew, piercing, and sucking on tea shoots. Our study showed that whitefly adults highly preferred the jasmine yellow sticky boards, each baited with a tea plant volatiles-based 6-component attractant lure (60 mg loading) consisting of benzaldehyde, 1-hexanol, methyl salicylate, trans-2-hexenal, cis-3-hexen-1-ol, and linalool at a 1:2:4:4:7:12 ratio, denoted as the Aleurocanthus spiniferus attractant with a sticky jasmine yellow board (ASASJYB). The effective trapping distance of ASASJYBs was determined to be 12 m, with whitefly adult catches on each board ranging from dozens to 40,000 individuals within several days. Trapping by ASASJYBs could accurately predict the beginning, peak, and ending periods of the emergence and also catch significant numbers of the gravid females. From end March to early April, application of ASASJYBs at a rate of 225 traps per ha in tea plantations could catch the most overwintering-generation adults and consequently suppress the whole year’s whitefly nymph and pupal populations below the control threshold. In main Chinese tea-growing regions, ASASJYBs have been widely used to control the whiteflies efficiently and in an eco-friendly manner.