Sex Pheromone Aerosol Devices for Mating Disruption: Challenges for a Brighter Future

Pheromone-mediated mating disruption (MD) represents an important tool to manage insect pests in agriculture and forestry. MD relies on the release of synthetic sex pheromones from dispensers in crops, interfering with mate finding and reproduction of a pest through both competitive and non-competit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Insects (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2019-09, Vol.10 (10), p.308
Main Authors: Benelli, Giovanni, Lucchi, Andrea, Thomson, Donald, Ioriatti, Claudio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerosols
beetle pests
Competition
Cost analysis
Crops
Dispensers
Disruption
Flight activity
insect sex pheromones
Insects
integrated pest management
Mating disruption
mealybugs
Mode of action
moth pests
Pests
Pheromones
precision agriculture
Reproduction (biology)
Review
Sex
Sex pheromone
Time of use
Wineries & vineyards
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Summary:Pheromone-mediated mating disruption (MD) represents an important tool to manage insect pests in agriculture and forestry. MD relies on the release of synthetic sex pheromones from dispensers in crops, interfering with mate finding and reproduction of a pest through both competitive and non-competitive mechanisms. MD programs primarily rely upon “passive” dispensers, used at high densities per hectare (200–3000 units∙ha−1). In addition to the labor required for their application, another disadvantage of “passive” dispensers is the continuous release of pheromones, regardless of the time of day or the pest flight activity. Aerosol delivery systems can overcome the drawbacks of passive dispensers as they are applied at far lower density (2–5 units∙ha−1) and they can be programmed to release pheromones at selected time intervals when the target pest is active. However, the mode of action of aerosol dispensers is still not well understood and there are concerns of whether they are as effective as passive dispensers. This review focuses on the history of aerosol dispensers, mode of action, and effectiveness on various crops; deployment strategies; and the movement of pheromone once released. Limitations of aerosols and challenges for future research and commercial use are discussed.
ISSN:2075-4450
2075-4450
DOI:10.3390/insects10100308