Efficacy of food-based attractants for monitoring Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) in berry crops. (December 2021) - Toledo-Hernández, Ricardo A.
Abstract: Spotted-Wing Drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzukii Matsumura is an invasive fruit fly pest of soft-skinned fruits that causes serious economic losses in the berry growing areas of central Mexico. Effective attractants are necessary to detect its presence, to monitor populations where established, and to explore new strategies for pest control. The capture of D. suzukii in four food-based attractants was compared with apple cider vinegar (ACV) as the reference attractant in blackberry, raspberry, and blueberry crops. An active yeast-based lure, Fly Buster Powder®, resulted the most effective attractant capturing SWD flies in blackberry and blueberry. However, this attractant was similar to SuzukiiTrap® Max Captures, ACV and Pherocon® SWD, but less effective than a two-component attractant (2C trap) in raspberry. The specificity of attractants was variable among crops and experiments but Fly Buster Powder® tends to be highly selective in the capture of SWD with up to 70% of D. suzukii from all drosophilids captured. Fly Buster Powder® and 2C trap attractants were more effective trapping D. suzukii when aged for 7 days than when aged for 1 or 15 days. The specificity of both yeast-based attractants was significantly reduced when aged for 15 days than when aged for 1 or 7 days. Highlights: Capture and specificity of D. suzukii was variable depending on the berry crop and experiment. Active yeast derived attractants resulted highly attractive and selective for D. suzukii in the neotropics. Capture and specificity to D. suzukii of yeast-based attractants is dependent of its maturation period.