The Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix Pandemis heparana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) has been considered one of the major key pests of European apple orchards and it is still an important pest in some European apple districts. P. heparana overwinters mainly as second-instar larvae and begins to feed in early spring together with vegetative recovery, causing mainly a qualitative damage to apple orchards: larvae can damage both leaves (by gnawing epidermis and parenchyma, or by causing leaf rolling and distortion) and fruits (leading to a general fruit depreciation with corky spots). P. heparana is reported to account for 10% of the total leafroller population of orchards and without control, a high damage to fruits (up to 100%) may occur.
Besides classical chemical control, a recent discovery has demonstrated that herbivore induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) from apple tree infested with leafrollers are highly attractive to male and female adults of Pandemis pyrusana. These volatiles included β-caryophyllene, germacrene D, benzyl alcohol, phenylacetonitrile, (E)-nerolidol, and indole. No volatiles were attractive to P. pyrusana when used alone. However, traps baited with phenylacetonitrile plus acetic acid caught both sexes of P. pyrusana in high number.
The aim of this research project is to further investigate the relationship between the intraspecific induced volatile of apple trees and P. heparana in order to develop a possible alternative control method for this species. The project is based on the results achieved in recent studies by our group and is designed to study the specific attractivity of volatile blends including phenylacetonitrile, acetic acid, 2-phenyl-ethanol and pear ester as bisexual baits for mass trapping of P. pyrusana.