Pink Bollworm (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae): Point Source Density and Its Relationship to Efficacy in Attracticide Formulations of Gossyplure

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Abstract
Tests with pink bollworm, Pecttnophora gossypiella (Saunders), were done to determine the effects of point source emission rates of gossyplure and the effects of density of point sources on the ability of male pink bollworm to orient to individual point sources within a mating disruption system. Results showed that, although a significantly greater percentage of available point sources were contacted by males in lower density Nomate pheromone applications (1, 2, or 4 fibers per m2 in wind tunnels and 0.012, 0.025, and 0.05 fibers per m2 in small plots), higher density treatments (16 fibers per m2 in wind tunnels and 1 fiber per m2 in small plots) caused significantly higher mortality in male populations as a result of increased contact between males and point sources. Samples from an aerial application of three densities of Hereon Disrupt flakes on 1.3-ha plots at 11,856, 23,712, and 47,424 flakes per ha indicated that plots treated with 11,856 flakes per ha had a significantly higher percentage (52.1) of the sampled flakes with moth scales than did plots treated with 23,712 (39.2%) and 47,424 (22.0%) flakes per ha. However, projecting the number of male! flake encounters based on the percentage of sampled flakes with moth scales from the three rates indicated that the high-density rate (47,242) received 10,434 male encounters compared with 9,295 and 6,177 encounters by males to flakes in plots treated with 23,712 and 11,856 flakes per ha. These data suggest that, within the density and emission ranges examined, synthetic sources did not cause adaptation or habituation. Maximum male response to point sources occurred at the highest point source density examined.