Title "Evaluation of different Droskidrink formulates to trap Drosophila suzukii, according to the characterization of the specific biologically-active-volatile compounds"

Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) is a polyphagous invasive pest, native to South-Est Asia and causing a huge damage to soft- and stone-fruits like cherry, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, apricot and currants. This insect can reproduce at a very high rate, laying eggs inside the skin of fruits during the ripening period. Therefore, it is difficult to apply proper insecticides, due to the short preharvest interval between infestation and harvest. Alternative control strategies are still lacking. In recent years, an efficient lure, called Droskidrink, was developed by Fondazione Mach (San Michele all’Adige, Italy) in an effort to mass trapping D. suzukii. This lure showed to be very effective although complete control of the insect was not achieved.
In this project we aimed to investigate the effect of adding specific microorganism strains on Droskidrink to enhance the selective trapping of the lure to D. suzukii. Droskidrink inoculated with different microbial strains will be tested during spring and summer 2014 under field conditions. The trails will be arranged in a randomized block design, comparing the trapping values in several orchards, comprising cherry, blueberry, and other soft-fruit crops. The different lures will be characterised by the identification of the volatile profile for each type of inoculated Droskidrink by direct headspace-gas chromatography linked to mass spectrometry (direct HS-GC-MS). Moreover, the headspace of each lure will be collected by closed-loop stripping (CLSA) analysis. The CLSA extracts will be analysed by gas chromatography coupled to electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD), recording from the antenna of D. suzukii. These experiments will enable us to understand which of the inoculated Droskidrink is the most efficient in trapping D. suzukii and which specific bioactive volatile compounds may play a role in the increased trapping of the lure.