Improving integrated pest management for plum curculio in Illinois peaches
Kafle, Karuna
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Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/130051
Description
Title
Improving integrated pest management for plum curculio in Illinois peaches
Author(s)
Kafle, Karuna
Issue Date
2025-07-21
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Athey, Kacie J
Committee Member(s)
Selter, Nicholas J
Babadoost, Mohammad
Department of Study
Crop Sciences
Discipline
Crop Sciences
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Level
Thesis
Keyword(s)
Plum curculio
peaches
Integrated pest management
Abstract
Plum curculio (Conotrachelus nenuphar) is a native pest and internal feeder and is a major threat to peaches and apples in Illinois. Orchard surveys were conducted in 2023 and 2024 to assess the effectiveness of different traps and lures for monitoring and capturing adult plum curculios in commercial orchards in west-central and southern Illinois. In 2023, plum curculio adults were successfully collected from Orchards E and W earlier in the season using traps baited with a benzaldehyde lure. However, adults collected using the lures declined later in the season despite their continued presence in the field, possibly indicating reduced attractiveness of the lure. The captured adults were counted and brought to the laboratory for further studies. In 2024, no adults were captured from orchards due to an early season freezing event, which led to a lack of peaches in Orchards E and W.
A laboratory experiment using a Y- tube olfactometer was conducted to test if the lure is attractive enough to plum curculios when suitable host fruit (peach and apple) is present. In Y tube, we tested the responses of plum curculio adults to Benzaldehyde + Grandisoic acid (BZ+GA) and/or Methyl Salicylate + Grandisoic acid (MeSA+GA) versus host fruits (apple and/or peach). The results revealed no significant difference in the attractiveness of the lure when the host (either apple or peach) was present. This finding explains why the lure’s attractiveness declined as the season progressed.
We used molecular approaches to identify the strain of plum curculio in Illinois. The adults collected from the field were used for DNA extraction and PCR was performed using Wolbachia specific primers (wsp) to identify associated Wolbachia strains. Previous studies reported that different strains of plum curculio are infected with distinct Wolbachia strains; wcne3 infects the bivoltine southern strain, while wcne1 and wcne2 infect the univoltine northern strain. Our study revealed that most adults collected from Orchard E and W were the southern strain, with only a single individual identified as the northern strain. This suggests that Illinois hosts both northern and southern strains, indicating a possible northward expansion of the southern strain’s range from the original boundary.
The findings of this study highlight the limitations of commercial lures in mid-summer and provide evidence of an additional generation of plum curculio in Illinois. The findings indicate the need for refined IPM practices, including aligning insecticide application timing with the insect’s life cycle to improve plum curculio management in Illinois.
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