Scientists in Cheshire have developed a new attractant to help monitor Spotted Wing Drosophila, a serious economic pest of soft-fruits. With its rapid spread across the globe, SWD is on the alert list of The European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO).
The International Pheromone Systems team has spent three years developing a special formulation and a trap that they hoped would perform better than those already available. Independent trials and analysis in Switzerland have shown that the new products perform 300% better than two market-leading products.
International Pheromone System’s Technical Manager Dr Sam Jones explains: “The global fresh fruit trade, and the ability of the larvae to hide in fruit undetected until after transportation, are both helping facilitate the increasing distribution of this pest. Given its very rapid spread throughout the UK and Europe in recent years we decided it was important to invest resources into a product that will help fruit farmers and importers monitor and trap these insects. We are delighted that our products performed so well in the trials, and we are now able to offer our formulation to customers.”
SWD infests and develops in undamaged, ripening fruit. Fruits become susceptible to the insect as they start to change colour, which coincides with softening skins and higher sugar levels. It infests a wide range of fruit crops, including grapes, as well as an increasing number of wild fruits. SWD is an economically damaging pest because the females can infest thin-skinned fruits before harvest and the larvae destroy the fruit pulp by feeding.
SWD is endemic in Asia. It was first recorded as invasive in Hawaii in 1980 and then simultaneously in California and in Europe in 2008. Since 2008 it has spread rapidly throughout the temperate regions of North America and Europe due to global trade and the initial lack of regulation over the spread of the pest. The species has a high reproductive rate capable of 13 generations per year in warmer climates, which may contribute towards this rapid spread, given available suitable hosts.
For more information about our new attractant for this pest, please contact IPS Customer Services at customerservices@ips1985.co.uk
