Pheromone-mediated mating disruption (MD) is currently considered an effective strategy to control the European grapevine moth (EGVM), Lobesia botrana, with a successful interference on natural female calling during the male searching flight. However, little is known on the impact of the hour of the day on EGVM male flight. While various models forecasting the day of maximum presence of males per flight have been developed, field research on the male flight activity over the hours of the day is scarce. Hence, we used video camera-assisted pheromone traps to allow a continuous monitoring of EGVM flights over daylight and night hours, quantifying captures of males. Experiments were carried out in three vineyards located in northern Spain over two years (2016 and 2017). Results showed that EGVM flight mainly occurred between 21:00 and 23:00 hours. Furthermore, male catches significantly differed over the study year, annual flight period and vineyard. Most of the dispensers used worldwide for L. botrana MD continuously release the main sex pheromone component [(7E,9Z)-7,9-dodecadien-1-yl acetate], except for some automatic devices releasing puffs of sex pheromones at selected time intervals. The findings presented here can be useful to optimize the MD technique, identifying selected time intervals when the release of EGVM synthetic pheromones can be concentrated, boosting MD efficacy against this important pest, minimizing the release of synthetic sex pheromone molecules in the environment and reducing application costs.

Pheromone-mediated mating disruption (MD) is widely used as a control tool to manage the European grapevine moth (EGVM), Lobesia botrana. Most of the MD formulations are "passive" reservoir dispensers, which need to be used at a rather large number of units per hectare. A promising alternative is represented by automatic aerosol devices, releasing pheromone puffs at programmed time intervals. Herein, we investigated the effectiveness of MD aerosol product Isonet® L MisterX841 in reducing EGVM infestation on grape in comparison to the reference MD product Isonet® L and the grower's standard. Experiments were carried out over 2 years in two different study sites of Aragon region (Spain). EGVM male catches were monitored using traps baited with the female sex pheromone. The effectiveness of MD formulations against the three generations of EGVM was assessed by determining the percentage of infested bunches and the number of nests per bunch. As expected, a much greater amount of male catches in the grower's standard over Isonet® L MisterX841 and Isonet ® L was observed. No significant differences about EGVM male catches were found in vineyards where Isonet® L MisterX841 and Isonet® L were used. EGVM-infested bunches, as well as number of nests per bunch, were higher in the grower's standard, if compared to vineyards where we tested Isonet® L MisterX841 and Isonet® L. However, the employ of the latter led to a lower EGVM bunch infestation, if compared to Isonet® L MisterX841. Overall, the MD approach proposed here is effective against EGVM. These aerosol devices require a lower number of units per hectare if compared to hand-applied dispensers, saving labor costs and contributing to reduce plastic disposal in agricultural settings.

The olive moth (OM), Prays oleae (Bern.) (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae), is a major olive grove pest worldwide; however, until now, very few studies have investigated the effectiveness of mating disruption (MD) techniques against this pest. Experiments were carried out for two successive years (2019 and 2020) in three different olive groves in Andalucía (Southern Spain) to evaluate mating disruption’s efficacy in controlling the OM from the first to the third generation. The effectiveness of MD formulations against the three generations of OM was assessed by determining the percentage of infested olive fruits, the reduction of pheromone trap catches, and the number of affected inflorescences in both MD-treated and untreated control olive groves. The number of release points (one or two aerosol devices per ha) was also evaluated. In all years and trials, the mean number of males caught in traps placed in the MD-treated plots was significantly lower than untreated sites. Mating disruption registered a high suppression of male captures (>75%) in treated plots for two consecutive seasons. Concerning infested olive fruits, substantial reductions (about 80%) were observed in the MD plots of locations B and C, and a reduction of about 40% was detected in location A, compared to the control plot. Results showed that the installation of two aerosol devices/ha reduced fruit damage below 20% of infested olive fruits except for one site where a reduction of about 71% in the MD plot was recorded in 2019. Although few significant differences were associated with OM male catches and infested olive fruits between plots treated with one aerosol/ha and two aerosols/ha in most of the comparisons, significant differences in the number of olive inflorescences infested by P. oleae were found, suggesting a similar performance between the two tested aerosol densities. Results of two-year field trials in Andalucía demonstrated the potential of Mister P X841 aerosol devices as an effective tool for controlling the olive moth, P. oleae.