Tobacco Budworm: Behavioral Effects of Dispensing Virelure or Seven-Component Pheromone in Small Cotton Plots1

Abstract
Application of virelure or the seven-component pheromone of tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens (F.), to small plots resulted in mate trap capture reductions of 99 to 100%. However, infield mating of native adults was reduced only 26 to 48% as determined by nocturnal observations. Pheromone treatments also resulted in a significant delay in the time when peak mating occurred and altered the sex ratio of adults by reducing the number of males in treated plots up to 61.7% compared with check plots.