First Australian trials of Ethyl (2E, 4Z)-2,4-decadienoate for monitoring of female and male codling moth 'Cydia pomonella' L. (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in pome fruit orchards

Codling moth (CM) is the most important pest of commercial pome fruit orchards in Australia. Sex pheromone mediated mating disruption is widely used in Victoria to control CM but monitoring of CM populations with sex pheromone traps in orchards treated with mating disruption is difficult. Ethyl (2E, 4Z)-2,4-decadienoate (DA) has been reported to be a species-specific, highly attractive pear-derived kairomone for male and female CM. The first field trials in Australia of different formulations of DA were conducted in the 2001-02 season in apple, pear and nashi pear orchards and continued in the 2002-03 season on different varieties of apples. Pure DA and it's mixture with CM sex pheromone (E, E)-8-,10- dodecadien-1-ol (codlemone) were highly specific and attractive for CM males and females in orchards. Further work is warranted to determine optimum combinations of DA and codlemone.