Insect Pheromone In Forest Pest Management

(MENAFN- Market Press Release) September 13, 2022 8:23 am - The advent of insect pheromone has opened up an effective way of pest control.

In the process of pest control in forestry, the use of various chemical pesticides tends to induce stronger pest resistance, significantly hindering the control and development of forestry. The advent of insect pheromone has opened up an effective way of pest control. After insects mature, they release a trace chemical substance with a special smell, and such chemical substances can lure the same species of insects to mate. Insect pheromone has been highly valued by scholars at home and abroad and is becoming one of the main measures in integrated pest control, with broad application and development prospects.

The mechanism and transmission methods of pheromone
At present, extended research has been accomplished on studying the pheromone of Lepidopteran insects. Some insects secrete pheromone through their wings, while others secrete pheromone on the back of their thorax or the first two thorax segments. There are two major ways of transmitting pheromones: one relies on airflow, which is transmitted from the upper wind to the lower wind, forming a pheromone belt, then insects follow this belt to reach the odor source and resulting in a faster transmission fashion. The second way to transmit pheromones relies on the free movement of the prime molecules diffusing around, which is a slower transmission method.

Insect pheromone components
In 1959, a chemist spent nearly 20 years extracting the pheromone – Bombykol from the glands of 500,000 female silkworms. The composition and content of pheromone released by different insects also hold different degrees. For example, the chemical structures of pheromones of Lepidopteran insects are mostly long-chain unsaturated alcohols and esters, which are composed of aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, and esters with 10 to 21 carbons.

Factors affecting the release of pheromone by insects
Studies have shown that the physiological process of insect secretion and release of pheromone is controlled and dominated by external environmental factors and the lateral body. In some Coleopteran insects, the secretion of pheromones stops when the lateral pharynx is removed. In addition, temperature and photoperiod directly affect the release of pheromones.

Application of pheromone in monitoring and forecasting

The traditional monitoring and forecasting of insect situations are mainly carried out by methods such as manual surveys and black light trapping. For pests with secret lifestyles, weak phototaxis, low insect population densities, as well as forests of complex terrain, the traditional pest monitoring and forecasting strategies were greatly limited, resulting in an enlarged deviation of the survey data and affecting the overall accuracy. Now pheromones can be widely used in insect monitoring and forecasting to predict the occurrence period, damage location, and even the number of pests.

Applications of pheromone in pest control
In forest land located in high mountains and sparsely populated, it is unsuitable to use pesticides for pest control. Insect pheromone would be a good choice due to the fact that it could be used in combination with biological agents. Moreover, insect pheromone has benefited the overall efficacy duration for prevention and control; hence, it is used directly for pest trapping and killing.

Classification of insect pheromones
According to functions, pheromones have been classified into 8 categories: aggregation pheromones, alarm pheromones, oviposition-deterrent pheromones, home recognition pheromones, sex pheromones, trail pheromones, recruitment pheromones, and royal pheromones. Based on different compositions, pheromones can be grouped as the ketone-functionalized pheromone, aldehyde-functionalized pheromone, carboxyl-functionalized pheromone, epoxy-functionalized pheromone, ester-functionalized pheromone, and alcohol-functionalized pheromone.

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