Monitoring the Oriental Fruit Moth with pheromone and bait traps in apple orchards under different management regimes

Abstract

A completely randomized experimental design was used to evaluate the performance of pheromone and terpinyl acetate bait traps in the monitoring of Oriental Fruit Moth in apple orchards under different management regimes. Pheromone traps detected three peaks in male moth catches corresponding to the first, second, and overlapping third plus fourth generation adults, respectively. However, two separate peaks of overlapping generations were evident in bait traps owing to their ability to catch both sexes, predominantly mated females. Trap catches and fruit damage were significantly reduced both in mating disruption blocks with an early insecticide application and insecticide treatments alone, compared with abandoned blocks. Cumulative moth catch in pheromone traps during late-season flight was a better predictor of fruit damage than catch in bait traps.