Sustainable delivery of a sex pheromone with an ester wax to disrupt Grapholita molesta mating

Abstract

Paraffin wax-type mating disruption dispensers have been increasingly used in field applications to effectively prevent population growth of Grapholita molesta (GM) insect larvae, in which the duration of pheromone release is relatively short. Ester waxes (e.g., bees, Japan and carnauba) have been studied as dispenser materials, focusing on the pheromone release pattern. The solubility of the GM pheromone in bees and Japan ester waxes was comparable in a differential scanning calorimetry analysis, but the pheromone was not soluble in paraffin wax and was degraded in carnauba wax. The 5% GM pheromone weight concentration in Japan wax significantly reduced the crystalline state as observed by X-ray diffraction. A head-space analysis and GM pheromone release test using bees and Japan waxes conducted in a 30 A degrees C incubator resulted in a zero-order release rate during sustained release of the GM pheromone.