Trapping economically important noctuid moths with sex pheromones and floral chemicals

Previous research showed that certain noctuid moths were captured in Unitraps baited with the floral kairomone attractants phenylacetaldehyde and β-myrcene, but comparisons among traps with sex pheromones, floral attractants, and pheromones plus floral attractants was never tested. We compared these treatments in a 17-mo trial at a large agricultural experiment station in north-central Florida. Trap capture of moths to sex pheromone lures for fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) and soybean looper, Chrysodeixis includens (Walker) were compared to capture in traps baited with the volatile floral chemicals. Combination lures that included both female sex pheromone and floral volatiles were added to the trial to determine if there was synergistic attraction to traps. Pheromone lures for corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) were added as a treatment to document seasonality of this pest species in the region. Over the course of the study, we captured over 4,400 fall armyworm moths, with 69% (3,044) found in the pheromone-only traps and 31% (1,377) found in traps baited with the combination lures, suggesting floral attractants repelled fall armyworm moths. Conversely, we collected 912 soybean looper moths, with 32% (288) found in the pheromone-only traps and 68% (624) captured in traps with the combined lures, suggesting the floral attractants synergized soybean looper moth capture. These results suggest that the use of floral kairomone attractants for moth trapping can act as synergists or antagonists to either increase or decrease trap capture, depending on the species of interest.