Small-Plot Disorientation Tests for Screening Potential Mating Disruptants

The manipulation of insect chemical communication systems was promoted to be the savior of insect control programs. Many people have been disappointed because this has not happened. Some reasons for this frustration are that people fail to realize that this is not a technique that is applicable to all insect pest species, that the technique is not applicable to all field or crop situations, and that it is not possible to develop the use of this technique for any species without much knowledge of the insect’s biology, behavior, communication system, and its interaction with the environment and economics in any particular control situation. In some cases the cost and effort of registration has been a hindrance to further developmental research, but one of the largest problems from a commercial viewpoint is with the demonstration of efficacy. An AIBS-EPA Task Group reviewed (Roelofs, 1979) various test methods for determining the efficacy of pheromones as insect control agents, but found very few test that actually proved efficacy. There are many reasons for this, including problems with formulations, finances, finding appropriate isolated test sites and insect populations, as well as with pressures to conduct large field trials with an insufficient knowledge of the insect’s behavior.