The use of pheromone traps to monitoring the vine mealybug, Planococcus ficus and its main parasitoid, Anagyrus sp. nr. pseudococci Fátima Gonçalves, Cristina Carlos, Susana Sousa, Márcio Nóbrega, José C. Franco, José Manso, António Pinto, Laura Torres
Introduction - Vine decay - directly due to its feeding activity Vine mealybug (VMB) Planococcus ficus - Development of sooty mold - indirectly due to the honeydew contamination of leaves and grape clusters - Transmission of Grapevine Leafroll Viruses
Biology Usually it overwinters in trunk (under the bark ) It can be also go on vine roots and weeds During spring and early summer, mealybugs move to shoots, leaves and clusters
The development of VMB is extremelly dependent on temperature - During the summer, P. ficus can complete its life cycle in 3 to 4 weeks, causing a rapid development of populations Eggs Scrawler (L1) Pré-pupae Adult female Male
. Changes in cultural practices, insecticides, natural enemies, weather. Some vineyards are located in favourable micro-climatic conditions (near the river, slopes, different sun expositions). Presence of other host plants of the pest on the edges of vineyards (ex. Malus domestica, Cydonia oblonga, Salix spp.)
3 sub-regions in Douro Demarcated Region (DDR) Lower Corgo 45 000 ha (14 082 Ha vineyards) Upper Corgo 95 000 Ha (20 905 ha vineyards) Murça Upper Douro 110 000 ha (10 215 Ha vineyards) RDD - Sub Regions Baixo Corgo Cima Corgo Douro Superior Vineyard spot* Vila Real Sabrosa Alijó C. Ansiães Vila Flor Main rivers Locations Porto direction M. Frio S. M. Penaguião P. Régua S. J. Pesqueira T. Moncorvo Spain direction Lamego Armamar Tabuaço V. N. Foz-Côa F. E. Cinta 0 5 10 20 30 Km Mêda Area Demarcated Douro Region 250 000 Ha Surface with Vineyards 45 202 Ha (18%) Fonte: CAOP, 2004. Carta Land Corine Cover, 2000, Atlas do Ambiente Digital, 2005. PIOT ADV, 2001 Surface / grower : 1,3 Ha
Introduction source: WorldClim Database (Hijmans et al. 2005) in Jones, 2012
Introduction source: WorldClim Database (Hijmans et al. 2005) in Jones, 2012
Introduction source: WorldClim Database (Hijmans et al. 2005) in Jones, 2012 Mean temperature (ºC) during growing season for a serie of 30 years (1931-1960) Baixo Corgo Douro Superior Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept 14,9 17,3 20,8 23,2 23,2 20,7 16,5 19,2 24 26,4 26,5 22,8
Objectives 1) Monitoring of flight curve of P. ficus males using pheromone traps baited with the synthetic female sex pheromone ((S)-lavandulyl senecioate). P. ficus male 2) Study of the kairomonal attraction of the females of Anagyrus sp. nr. pseudococci (the main parasitoid of P. ficus) to the same pheromone traps and pheromone Anagyrus sp. nr. pseudococci
Material & Methods Experiment locations Baixo Corgo (Lower Corgo) Cima Corgo (Upper Corgo) Murça Douro Superior (Upper Douro) RDD - Sub Regions Baixo Corgo Cima Corgo Douro Superior Vineyard spot* Vila Real Sabrosa Alijó C. Ansiães Vila Flor Main rivers Locations Porto direction M. Frio S. M. Penaguião P. Régua S. J. Pesqueira T. Moncorvo Spain direction Lamego Armamar Tabuaço V. N. Foz-Côa F. E. Cinta 0 5 10 20 30 Km Mêda Fonte: CAOP, 2004. Carta Land Corine Cover, 2000, Atlas do Ambiente Digital, 2005. PIOT ADV, 2001
Quinta do Vallado (Baixo Corgo) Material & methods. Vineyard with 1,32 Ha, 17 years old, located near two rivers (Douro and Corgo). Touriga Franca variety. Long history of infestation. In the harvest of 2012, 40% of bunches were infested (even after an insecticide treatment). In January of 2013, 24% of vines were infested.. Very vigorous vines
Quinta do Arnozelo (Douro Superior) Material & methods. Vineyard with 1,73 Ha, 13 years old, located near the Douro river.. Touriga Franca variety. In the harvest of 2012, 16% of bunches were infested. In December of 2012, 36% of vines were infested.. Little vigorous vines
Material & methods Traps were installed: - in 21 st March in Quinta do Vallado - in 11 th April in Quinta do Arnozelo Traps were checked weekly (data presented in captures / day)
Results and discussion Quinta do Vallado Insecticide treatment Harvest Quinta do Arnozelo Harvest 1 st capture 1 st capture. The first capture of P. ficus occurred in mid-may (Vallado: 16/05, Arnozelo: 10/05). The number of captures per trap were higher in Vallado than in Arnozelo. In Vallado, it was found three evident peaks that, though the overlapping of generations, could each one, to correspond to a peak of one generation
Parasitoid, Anagyrus sp. nr. pseudococci Quinta do Vallado Insecticide treatment Harvest Quinta do Arnozelo Harvest. The first captures of A. sp. nr. pseudococci females in the pheromone traps occurred at the end of April in Arnozelo and in mid-may in Vallado. The trend of the wasp captures followed a similar pattern to the one observed for P. ficus males
Diferences in climate conditions between the two sub-regions under study Accumulated rainfall in Douro Superior, was significantly lower than in Baixo Corgo In Douro Superior the monthly mean temp. and number of days with temp > 35,6ºC (upper threshold ) were higher than in Baixo Corgo
Conclusions. In Douro Wine Region, first captures of P. ficus males occurs in late spring (mid-may).. Depending on the sub-region, the insect can develop, apparently, 3 or 4 complete generations, reflected by the peaks recorded by pheromone traps.. VMB was less abundant in the dryer warmer sub-region (Douro Superior). Females of Anagyrus sp. nr. pseudococci showed a kairomonal attraction to the pheromone, being also captured in the pheromone traps. The next step will be to understand if captures in pheromone traps can be well correlated with P. ficus densities, determined by visual sampling methods.
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