Repellent Effect of Volatile Fatty Acids on Lesser Mealworm (Alphitobius diaperinus)

Abstract

Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) are a group of common metabolites and semiochemicals mediating information transfer between higher organisms and bacteria, either from microbiome or external environment. VFAs commonly occur among various insect orders. There are numerous studies exploring their influence on the behavior of different insect species. In relation to the papers published by J. E. McFarlane in 1985, we assessed the effects of formic, acetic, propionic, butyric and valeric acids on the spatial preference of the lesser mealworm (Alphitobius diaperinus), a common pest of stored food grain products and the poultry industry. The main aim of the presented study was to provide new angles in VFA research, recreating the classical study both with new methods and on economically significant pest species. This paper presents a novel method of continuous, simultaneous assessment of site preference and the travelled distance in a constant-flow olfactometer. All the tested VFAs, except valeric acid, had a significant repellent effect, with formic acid being effective even at the lowest used concentration. Additionally, the VFAs significantly altered the distance travelled by the insects. The obtained results indicate a potential role for VFAs in the olfactory guided behavior of A. diaperinus. It is suspected that the reaction to the presence of VFAs may deviate from the specificity of species’ original habitat.

The Effect of Rosmarinus officinalis Essential Oil Fumigation on Biochemical, Behavioral, and Physiological Parameters of Callosobruchus maculatus

“…Recordings lasted for 10 min at 15 fps frame rate with 640 × 860 px resolution. The obtained data was analyzed as described in Baran et al [ 14 ], which allowed the calculation of the Preference Index (PI).…”

Commercially Available Essential Oil Formulas as Repellents Against the Stored-Product Pest Alphitobius diaperinus

“…Behavioural tests were conducted using the setup described in the article by Baran et al (2018) [13] (Figure 1). Forty-eight individuals were used for a single concentration of an essential oil or a tested mixture.…”

“…The recent research focused on answering the question whether (and how strong) the presence of EOs in the air repels A. diaperinus . A novel, non-pitfall, preference (expressed as preference index—PI) test was used to assess the highly developed exploratory behaviour of A. diaperinus [13].…”

“…Such approaches do not take into account the exploratory behaviour that may lead to random choices, therefore introducing noise to the data. The procedure described in [13] addresses the issue by allowing the insect to explore the test chambers freely, while its position is continuously tracked. Such an approach, based on easily accessible hardware and free software, can improve the quality of the data obtained on the olfactory preference and, simultaneously, provide additional information describing the movement parameters (speed, distance travelled, etc.)…”

The lesser mealworm Alphitobius diaperinus: a noxious pest or a promising nutrient source?

“…Similarly, Baran et al . () demonstrated in behavioural tests the repellent effect of four volatile fatty acids (VFAs), i.e. formic, acetic, propionic and butyric acid, on the spatial preference of A. diaperinus adults, with formic acid being effective even at the lowest concentration tested.…”