Perfume component helps lure male moth pests
Published:04 May2023 Source:North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University researchers have shown that adding a small amount of a chemical used in perfumes -- nonanal -- to a two-chemical combination of other sex pheromones helped increase the cocktail's effectiveness in mimicking female fall armyworm "come hither" calls to males.
The findings could eventually help farmers better detect, monitor and control fall armyworm populations, which negatively affect some 350 plant species -- including crops like corn and cotton as well as turfgrass and other cultivated grasses.
The researchers used gas chromatography, in which chemical compounds are separated in a controllable oven, to test whether the fall armyworm males would respond to other chemicals besides the known blend of chemicals. By connecting this instrument to the antennae of fall armyworm males and monitoring their electrical activity, the researchers saw that nonanal stimulated male fall armyworms.