Development of a pheromone trap monitoring system for orange wheat blossom midge, Sitodiplosis mosellana, in the UK.

Field-trapping experiments with synthetic 2,7-nonadiyl dibutyrate, the female-produced sex pheromone of the orange wheat blossom midge, Sitodiplosis mosellana (Géhin), demonstrated that pheromone traps were highly attractive to males and caught very few non-target organisms. Different formulations of pheromone were tested to identify the optimum release rate and dispenser type for use in pheromone traps in the UK. Key findings were that racemic pheromone was as effective as enantiomerically pure (2S,7R)-2,7-nonadiyl dibutyrate, that release rates higher than 0.

Responses of female orange wheat Blossom midge, Sitodiplosis mosellana, to wheat panicle volatiles.

Air entrainment samples of volatiles from panicles of intact wheat, Triticum aestivum, cultivar 'Lynx' were collected at the ear emergence/early anthesis growth stage. In an olfactometer bioassay, both freshly cut panicles and an air entrainment sample were found to attract female orange wheat blossom midge adults, Sitodiplosis mosellana. Coupled gas chromatography-electroantennography (GC-EAG) analyses of panicle volatiles located six electrophysiologically active components.