Journal of Taiwan Agricultural Research

Author:Yaw-Jen Dong and Shaw-Yhi Hwang*

Abstract:

    Four synthetic herbivore-induced plant volatiles (methyl salicylate, cis-3-hexen-1-ol, 2-phenylethanol, and linalool) were field-tested for the effectiveness in attracting natural enemies at the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute. Orius, Cheilomenes sexmaculata, flower flies (Syrphidae), and Hymenoptera parasitoids which are major natural enemies can be trapped by yellow sticky papers. In four volatiles tested, only methyl salicylate significantly attracted Orius. All volatiles showed no significant attraction to Cheilomenes sexmaculata, Syrphidae, and Hymenoptera parasitoids. Furthermore, the attractions of methyl salicylate to Orius were different at different concentrations. Besides 10.0% methyl salicylate (2.1/trap), 99.0% (5.2/trap), 1.0% (4.9/trap), and 0.1% (4.8/trap) methyl salicylate attracted significantly more Orius than control (0.9/trap). Comparing with control (0.6/trap), more Orius were significantly trapped on yellow sticky papers in the treatments with a mixture of methyl salicylate and cis-3-hexen-1-ol (3.3/trap) and with methyl salicylate only (3.2/trap). Investigations conducted at a plum orchard for four successive weeks in 2014 and 2015 showed that methyl salicylate attracted significantly more Orius than control at every time point. In addition, yellow sticky paper with methyl salicylate also trapped significantly more Orius than control in loquat, maize and lettuce fields. In summary, methyl salicylate has the potential to be a field attractant against Orius. However, the influences of methyl salicylate at different concentrations and mixed with other herbivore-induced plant volatiles need to be considered.

Key words:Herbivore induced plant volatiles, Methyl salicylate, Orius, Attractant

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