Aromatic Fruits as Baits for the Management of Fruit-piercing Moths in Pomegranate:Exploiting Olfaction

'Baits' are substances that attract, trap and kill pests. In horticultural practice, baits are used to trap insect pests, thereby diverting them from cultivated crops. An important insect pest that can be managed using baits is the fruit-piercing moth (FPM), Eudocima species. These frugivorous moths are distributed throughout India and inflict serious damage to a wide range of cultivated fruits. In southern India, pomegranate cultivation is escalating and so is the fruit damage caused by FPM. The damage by FPM alone sums up to 40% of the production, thus causing heavy loss to farmers. However, existing control measures are ineffective in reducing damage caused by the moths. In the present communication, we study the feeding preference of FPM to banana, guava, tomato and molasses in multiple and limited-choice field experiments. The results indicate that the moths are attracted to bait fruits, viz. banana, guava compared to the main crop, pomegranate. We conclude that using these aromatic fruits as baits, we can divert the moths from the main crop, which will serve as an economically viable control measure.