South Perth, Western Australia
May 11, 2009
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Department of Agriculture and Food senior research
officer Bill Woods (left) and New Zealand visitor Dr Max
Suckling check a pheromone trap to see if the moths have
been disrupted by the perfumed Medflies released by the
pair. |
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Protection of Western Australian
agricultural crops could be strengthened with the development of
an innovative technique to control insects.
The Department of
Agriculture and Food is collaborating with the New Zealand
Institute for Plant and Food Research (NZIPFR) as part of a
Co-operative Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity
project.
The team is building on conventional methods of control, such as
mating disruption and the sterile insect technique.
Dr Max Suckling and Vanessa Mitchell from the NZIPFR visited the
department recently to work with senior research officer Bill
Woods on developing the new technique.
Mr Woods said the team was exploring the potential for sterile
Mediterranean Fruit Flies, known as Medfly, to be carriers of
moth pheromone to disrupt mating.
“In nature, male moths fly along a pheromone plume to find
females to mate,” he said.
“Conventional mating disruption using hand placed pheromone ties
is one of the mainstays of integrated pest control in orchards.
However, the technique is time consuming, expensive and only
suited to large orchard areas.
“This new technique involves releasing thousands of pheromone
carrying male Medflies so the deluded male moths would then
chase the sterile Medflies instead of female moths. Female moths
would be unable to find mates and the population would die out.”
The new technique could potentially be used to control or
eradicate infestations of devastating moth pests, such as
Codling moth and False Codling moth if they were to be found in
Western Australia.
Mr Woods said the proposed technique could have a wider
application, as it would be a sustainable method that could be
used against a range of pest species.
“Applying moth pheromones to sterile male Medflies gives the
existing technique a twist that would enable its use in urban
areas,” he said.
“It’s an intriguing idea that hasn’t been proven yet but initial
results using light brown apple moth as the test species are
very positive.
“We have a lot of interest internationally from this project,
particularly from California where there’s a big problem with
light brown apple moth near urban areas. There will also be
obviously benefits to WA agriculture from having another control
method in the biosecurity toolbox to inexpensively eradicate
pest incursions.” |
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