Nonanal, a new fall armyworm sex pheromone component, significantly increases the efficacy of pheromone lures

• Published in: Pest management science 2023-08, Vol.79 (8), p.2831-2839
• Main Authors: Saveer, Ahmed M., Hatano, Eduardo, Wada‐Katsumata, Ayako, Meagher, Robert L., Schal, Coby
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acetic acid; Aldehydes; Bioactive compounds; Butterflies & moths; Cockroaches; Cotton; fall armyworm; Gas chromatography; lures; Males; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Nonanal; Pest control; Pests; Pheromone gland; Pheromone traps; Pheromones; Plant species; Sex; Sex pheromone; Sorghum; Spodoptera frugiperda; trapping
• ISSN: 1526-498X; 1526-4998
• DOI: 10.1002/ps.7460

Background The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith), is a global pest that feeds on >350 plant species and severely limits production of cultivated grasses, vegetable crops and cotton. An efficient way to detect new invasions at early stages, and monitor and quantify the status of established infestations of this pest is to deploy traps baited with species‐specific synthetic sex pheromone lures. Results We re‐examined the compounds in the sex pheromone glands of FAW females by gas chromatography‐electroantennogram detector (GC‐EAD), GC–mass spectrometry (MS), behavioral and field assays. A new bioactive compound from pheromone gland extracts was detected in low amounts (3.0% relative to (Z)‐9‐tetradecenyl acetate (Z9‐14:OAc), the main pheromone component), and identified as nonanal. This aldehyde significantly increased attraction of male moths to a mix of Z9‐14:OAc and (Z)‐7‐dodecenyl acetate in olfactometer assays. Adding nonanal to this two‐component mix also doubled male trap catches relative to the two‐component mix alone in cotton fields, whereas nonanal alone did not attract any moths. The addition of nonanal to each of three commercial pheromone lures also increased male catches by 53–135% in sorghum and cotton fields. Conclusion The addition of nonanal to pheromone lures should improve surveillance, monitoring and control of FAW populations. © 2023 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, is considered the most destructive global pest of cultivated plants. Through a series of electrophysiological, analytical, behavioral and field experiments we identified a new FAW female sex pheromone component – nonanal – that when added to widely used commercial lures significantly increased trap catches of FAW males. Nonanal is inexpensive as a natural or synthetic compound and is readily available in resource‐limited regions of the world where FAW is a serious threat to food security.