A push–pull strategy for controlling Riptortus pedestris (Hemiptera: Alydidae) using host plant semiochemicals

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Riptortus pedestris is a major pest of soybean in East Asia that feeds on maturing seeds, reducingnutritional quality and causing seed abortion. Aggregation pheromone of the bean bug has beenconventionally used as a lure for mass-trapping, but the control practices, used by farmers andrecommended by the manufacturer can increase infestation in soybean fields. Here weinvestigated the efficacy of soybean semiochemical blend as a repellent incorporated with anattractant blend to develop a push–pull strategy. The efficacy of potential repellents was testedin a soybean field by evaluating three control strategies: a potential repellent (push), anattractant based on the synergistic effect of synthetic host plant volatiles and the aggregationpheromone (pull), and a combination of the attractant and the potential repellent. We adoptedtwo different monitoring systems, sticky traps and camera traps, to assess the spatialdistribution of the bean bugs. The attractant and repellents were strategically deployed, byputting the repellent in the center of soybean plot while the attractants were placed at theedge of the plot. In soybean plots treated with only attractants at the edge, the number ofbean bugs was significantly higher in both soybean and edge areas than those of control plots.
In contrast, the number of attracted bean bugs to soybean area significantly decreased in thepush–pull treated plot, verified by both sticky trap and camera trap methods. This strategycould prevent colonization and population establishment of the bean bugs in soybean fields aspart of an integrated pest management.