Tc. Leskey et al., Evaluation of individual components of plum odor as potential attractants for adult plum curculios, J CHEM ECOL, 27(1), 2001, pp. 1-17
We evaluated olfactory attraction of overwintered plum curculio (PC) adults
, Conotrachelus nenuphar, to 16 individual volatile components of unripe pl
um odor in the laboratory using a still-air dual-choice bioassay system and
in the field using baited cotton dental wicks attached to boll-weevil trap
s placed on the ground beneath the canopy of unsprayed apple trees. Two com
pounds, ethyl isovalerate and limonene, were significantly attractive in bo
th laboratory bioassays and field experiments. In laboratory bioassays, as
concentration was decreased across five orders of magnitude, a greater numb
er of compounds elicited responses suggestive of attractancy (except at the
lowest concentration). Even so, linalool, 2-hexanone, and 3-hydroxy-2-buta
none were the only other compounds showing significant attractiveness in la
boratory bioassays, but none of these (nor any other compounds) were signif
icantly attractive in field assays. We suggest that the use of ethyl isoval
erate and/or limonene as odor attractants offers potential to increase the
efficacy of current traps for monitoring PCs immigrating into fruit orchard
s during spring.