Composition for luring bactrocera cucurbitae and application thereof

Abstract

The invention provides a composition for luring bactrocera cucurbitae and application thereof, and relates to the technical field of green prevention and control of agricultural pests. The composition comprises the following active ingredients in percentage by weight: 10% of muscovone, 0.1% of heptanal and 0.1% of hexene. The main components of the composition all come from natural plant volatile matters, and the composition is easy to degrade in the natural environment, has no residual risk and is friendly to the ecological environment. Meanwhile, the composition has high safety to bees, pollination insects and other non-target organisms, and ecological side effects possibly brought by traditional chemical attractants are effectively avoided. According to the implementation of the method, an efficient and specific tool is provided for field monitoring of bactrocera cucurbitae populations, the occurrence dynamic of the bactrocera cucurbitae can be accurately mastered, the early warning capability is improved, a new technical path and an implementation basis are provided for promoting green comprehensive treatment of the bactrocera cucurbitae, and the method has good popularization and application prospects.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of green pest control technology in agriculture, specifically providing a composition for attracting melon flies and its application. Background Technology

[0002] The following describes the relevant technical background of the present invention, but these descriptions do not necessarily constitute prior art of the present invention.

[0003] melon fly Zeugodacus cucurbitae The melon fly is a serious pest of tropical crops, infesting at least 81 host plant species. Originating in India, it is now widely distributed in 30 countries and regions worldwide, including tropical, subtropical, and some temperate regions. In China, it is mainly distributed south of 25°N latitude, including Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan. With global warming and frequent agricultural trade, its distribution range continues to expand, potentially spreading to the Yangtze River basin and areas further north, posing a severe challenge to agricultural production.

[0004] Melon fly infestations can severely reduce bitter gourd yields by more than 50%, and in more severe cases, lead to total crop failure. The use of chemical pesticides remains the primary method for controlling melon flies worldwide. However, complete reliance on chemical pesticides can involve serious chemical pollution hazards affecting humans, plants, and other animals. Furthermore, the rapid development of pesticide resistance, coupled with the destruction of beneficial natural enemy populations, can further lead to outbreaks of both targeted and non-targeted pests. Therefore, there is an urgent need for environmentally friendly, safer, and cheaper alternatives to replace chemical pest control.

[0005] Plant essential oils, with their repellent, oviposition-inhibiting, easy-to-extract, biodegradable, and environmentally safe properties, are feasible alternatives to traditional pesticides and represent a promising integrated pest management approach. Regarding melon fly attractants, the pheromone pheromones developed into products are not very effective at attracting female melon flies, and the use of food sources is greatly affected by weather conditions.

[0006] Currently, green control methods for melon flies mainly rely on two types of attractants: sex pheromones and food attractants. Existing technologies include Chinese patents CN1312992C and CN100431412C, which disclose sex pheromones with cue-lure as the main component. However, these attractants can only kill a portion of the male flies. Since female melon flies are capable of multiple matings and can continue to lay eggs and cause damage for up to 20 days after a single mating, simply killing male flies can only reduce the mating rate of females to a limited extent, resulting in limited control effects. Chinese patent CN101411327B discloses a food attractant based on melon aroma components, but its composition is complex and its preparation process is cumbersome, hindering large-scale production and application. Chinese patents CN118592448B and CN120513974A both provide attractants with plant volatiles as the main component; however, these two attractants only attract female flies, limiting their application scope. Studies have shown that attractants that simultaneously attract both male and female adults are more effective in controlling pest populations. However, existing attractants generally suffer from the following technical shortcomings: their single component results in a narrow attraction spectrum; their persistence is unstable, making it difficult to meet long-term field control needs; and their attraction effects on male and female adults are uneven, hindering synergistic control.

[0007] Therefore, developing a highly efficient, environmentally friendly, and non-target organism-safe green attractant that can simultaneously and effectively attract both male and female adult fruit flies has become an urgent need for the sustainable management of fruit flies. Based on this, the present invention provides a novel composition consisting of clodinafophenone, heptanal, and hexene. This composition is derived from natural plant volatiles, and indoor and outdoor tests have confirmed that it not only achieves simultaneous attraction of males and females but also exhibits a significantly superior specific attraction effect on female fruit flies compared to commercially available products, providing a reliable technical solution for the green and efficient control of fruit flies. Summary of the Invention

[0008] This invention aims to overcome the shortcomings of existing melon fly control technologies, particularly addressing the environmental pollution problems caused by chemical pesticides, and the technical defects of existing attractants, such as single target, poor attraction to females at the core of the breeding cycle, and weak specificity. The purpose of this invention is to provide a melon fly attractant composition with high attraction activity, co-attracting of males and females, greater specificity for females, and environmental friendliness, as well as its application. To achieve the above objectives, this invention adopts the following technical solution: The first aspect of the present invention provides a composition for attracting melon flies, the composition comprising the following substances in weight percentages: 1%~10% fly attractant ketone, 0.1%~1% heptanal, 0.1%~1% hexene, and the balance being paraffin oil.

[0009] Preferably, the composition contains 10% by mass of pheromone, 0.1% by mass of heptanal, and 0.1% by mass of hexene.

[0010] A second aspect of the invention provides the use of the composition, including for preparing lures, attractant paper, or attractants, or for use in combination with biological pesticides or low-toxicity chemical pesticides to enhance their trapping ability.

[0011] The purpose described is to trap and kill adult melon flies.

[0012] The third aspect of the present invention provides a melon fly attractant prepared using the above-mentioned composition formulation, wherein 10% fly attractant ketone, 0.1% heptanal and 0.1% hexene are prepared and mixed according to a preferred formulation, and paraffin oil is used as a solvent to make up to 100%; during the preparation process, each component must be stirred evenly after being added before adding the next component.

[0013] This invention provides a composition for attracting melon flies, which has the following beneficial effects: I. High inducing activity and significant synergistic effect Indoor and outdoor system tests confirmed that the three core components (fly attractant ketone, heptanal, and hexene) screened in this invention have a significant synergistic effect. The optimal ratio (10% fly attractant ketone, 0.1% heptanal, and 0.1% hexene) optimized by orthogonal experiments achieved a total attraction rate of up to 84.43% for adult melon flies, which is significantly better than any single component and some other ratio combinations.

[0014] II. Specific induction of females, with great potential for prevention and control. A key advantage of the composition of this invention is its specific attraction to female melon fly larvae. Field trial data clearly show that the optimal combination (A1B3C3) attracted significantly more females than single pyridaben and commercially available melon fly attractants over observation periods of 1, 3, and 5 days (P<0.05), demonstrating great potential for development into a highly effective female attractant and helping to control pest population growth at its source.

[0015] III. Using both male and female predators, combining monitoring and prevention This composition exhibits highly effective attraction to female flies while maintaining a stable attraction effect on male flies, enabling comprehensive monitoring and killing of melon fly populations and providing a reliable tool for accurate early warning and effective control of population dynamics in the field.

[0016] IV. Environmentally friendly and highly biosafe The main components of the composition described in this invention are all derived from natural plant volatiles, which are easily degradable in the natural environment, pose no risk of residue, are environmentally friendly, avoid the ecological side effects of traditional chemical pesticides, and fully meet the requirements of green pest control and sustainable agricultural development. When used in conjunction with sticky insect traps, the operation is simple, requires no frequent replacement, saves labor costs, and is suitable for large-scale field application. Attached Figure Description

[0017] Figure 1 The indoor attraction effect of different concentrations of single agents on adult melon flies; Figure 2 The effects of different attractants on the fruit fly. Detailed Implementation

[0018] The specific embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without prior creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention. Example 1

[0019] Indoor attraction effect of adult melon fruit flies on different concentrations of volatile substances Using paraffin oil as a solvent, the reagents (1-octen-3-ol (98% purity), 4-(4-acetoxyphenyl)-2-butanone (98% purity), methyl salicylate (99% purity), heptanal (≥98% purity), hexene (99% purity), hexanal (99% purity); methyl isovalerate (≥99% purity); paraffin oil (AR); melon fly attractant) stock solution or raw material were diluted to 10 -1 10 -2 10 -3 10 -4 Five concentrations of volatile compounds in melon flies were tested in indoor cages to screen for active substances that significantly attract melon flies. Sixty melon flies (30 females and 30 males) were placed in rearing cages measuring 30 cm × 30 cm × 30 cm. A homemade attractant bottle was placed in the center of the cage. 1 mL of sample was added to absorbent cotton in a plastic cup, and the number of melon flies entering the attractant bottle was counted. The treatment period was from 9:00 AM on the first day to 9:00 AM on the second day. After treatment, the number of male and female melon flies in the attractant bottle was checked. 1 mL of paraffin oil was added as a negative control. Each treatment was repeated at least three times. All reagents were freshly prepared and used immediately. Three single agents and their optimal concentrations with the best attractant effect on female adult melon flies were screened.

[0020] Depend on Figure 1As shown, the indoor attraction effects of different concentrations of single agents on adult melon flies were tested. Different concentrations of cyromazine, heptanal, and hexene all had an attraction effect on adult melon flies, with different optimal attraction concentrations for female and male adults. The optimal attraction concentrations of cyromazine, heptanal, and hexene for female melon flies were 1%, 1%, and 0.1%, respectively, with corresponding attraction rates of 74.44%, 62.22%, and 71.11%. For female flies, the attraction rate was cyromazine > heptanal > hexene. The optimal attraction concentrations of cyromazine, heptanal, and hexene for male melon flies were 10%, 1%, and 1%, respectively, with corresponding attraction rates of 88.89%, 53.33%, and 53.33%. For male flies, the attraction rate was cyromazine > hexene > heptanal. The attraction rates of the other four substances for melon flies ranged from 0% to 41.1%. As shown in Table 1, pheromone, heptanal, and hexene attracted the most melon flies, and the optimal concentrations of these three volatile compounds for attracting melon flies were in the ranges of 10%-1%, 1%-0.1%, and 1%-0.1%, respectively. Example 2

[0021] Indoor attraction effects of 9 volatile mixtures on adult melon flies The optimal attractants A, B, and C at their three optimal concentrations were mixed according to an L9(33) orthogonal design and their attraction effect on adult melon flies was determined. The experimental method was the same as in Example 1.

[0022] Table 1. Factor Level Table for Orthogonal Experiment

[0023] The results are as follows: Regarding the synergistic effect, the addition of pheromone, heptanal, and hexene in Experiment 2 (Table 2) (10%, 0.5%, 0.5%), Experiment 3 (10%, 0.1%, 0.1%), Experiment 8 (1%, 0.5%, 0.1%), and Experiment 9 (1%, 0.1%, 1%) all improved the attraction effect on both male and female melon fly larvae, indicating that the mixture has a certain synergistic effect.

[0024] For adult melon fly, the extreme value R A >R B >R C The attraction effects on melon fruit flies were ranked as follows: pyridoxine > heptanal > hexene. The optimal combination of conditions was A1B3C3, which consisted of 10% pyridoxine, 0.1% heptanal, and 0.1% hexene, achieving an attraction rate of 84.43%. For females, the extreme value R... B >R A >R CThe attraction effects on female melon fly were ranked as follows: heptanal > cyromazine > hexene, with the optimal combination being A1B3C3, achieving an attraction rate of 76.67% for females. For male melon fly, the attraction effects were ranked as follows: cyromazine > heptanal > hexene, with the optimal combination being A1B3C3, achieving an attraction rate of 92.22%. Considering both the overall attraction rate to adults and the attraction rates to both females and males, the optimal combination was A1B3C3, namely 10% cyromazine, 0.1% heptanal, and 0.1% hexene (Table 2).

[0025] Table 2. Attraction effect of multiple reagent mixtures on sexually mature melon flies.

[0026] Note: A: Fly-attracting ketone, B: Heptanal, C: Hexene; Data in the table are composed of mean ± standard error. Example 3

[0027] Evaluation of the field attraction effect of A1B3C3 on melon fruit fly. The optimal combination A1B3C3, selected through indoor orthogonal experiments, was used for field trials. The controls were blank white sticky insect boards, fly attractant, and melon fly attractant.

[0028] Four treatment groups were sprayed with 1 mL of white sticky insect traps. The white sticky insect traps were randomly placed in the bitter gourd field, about 1.5 m above the ground and about 3 m apart. The number of female and male melon flies on the white sticky insect traps was checked on 1 day, 3 days and 5 days. 1 mL of attractant was sprayed again each time the traps were checked.

[0029] The results are as follows Figure 2A1B3C3, cyromazine, and the melon fly attractant all attracted both male and female melon flies. The attraction to female melon flies, from strongest to weakest, was A1B3C3, cyromazine, and the melon fly attractant. The A1B3C3 mixture attracted significantly more female melon flies at 1, 3, and 5 days than cyromazine, the melon fly attractant, and the control (P<0.05). However, the number of male melon flies attracted at 1, 3, and 5 days was not significantly different from that of cyromazine and the melon fly attractant (P>0.05). The A1B3C3 mixture can improve the attraction of female melon flies in the field and has the potential to be developed into a more potent female attractant. In summary, this invention compared the attraction effects of different concentrations of volatiles on melon fly, determining the optimal single agent and optimal concentration: cyromazine, heptanal, and hexene attracted the most melon flies, and the optimal concentrations of these three volatiles for attracting melon flies were within the ranges of 10%-1%, 1%-0.1%, and 1%-0.1%. Through orthogonal experiments, the optimal combination of conditions was determined to be A1B3C3, and its field attraction effect was tested, demonstrating that the A1B3C3 mixture can improve the attraction effect on female melon flies in the field, showing potential for development into a more potent female attractant. This invention demonstrates the attraction effects of cyromazine, heptanal, and hexene on melon flies, providing theoretical and technical support for the screening and formulation of melon fly attractants.

[0030] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, and are not intended to limit them. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art can still modify the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments or make equivalent substitutions for some of the technical features. Such modifications or substitutions do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions claimed by the present invention.

Claims

1. A composition for attracting melon flies, characterized in that, The composition comprises the following substances in weight percentages: 1%~10% hygroscopic ketone, 0.1%~1% heptanal, 0.1%~1% hexene, and the balance being paraffin oil.

2. The composition according to claim 1, characterized in that, The composition contains 10% by mass of pheromone, 0.1% by mass of heptanal, and 0.1% by mass of hexene.

3. Use of the composition according to any one of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that, Used to prepare lures, attractant paper, or attractants, or in combination with biological pesticides or low-toxicity chemical pesticides to enhance their trapping and killing capabilities.

4. The use according to claim 3, characterized in that, The composition is used to attract and kill adult melon flies.

5. A method for preparing a melon fly attractant, characterized in that, Prepare 10% fly attractant, 0.1% heptanal and 0.1% hexene according to the mass percentages described in claim 2 and mix them together, using paraffin oil as a solvent, to bring the total to 100%; during the preparation process, each component must be stirred evenly after being added before adding the next component.

6. A melon fly attractant prepared using the method of claim 5.

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