EFFECT OF PHEROMONE DISPENSERS PLACED AS A BELT ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MALE CATCHES, TETHERED FEMALE MATINGS AND DAMAGE OF LOBESIA-BOTRANA DEN AND SCHIFF IN VINEYARDS

In a vineyard in the Lake Geneva Region, BASF ampulla dispensers containing pheromone of grape vine moth L. botrana, were hung exclusively along a 10 ha rectangle. Pheromone traps were distributed 50 m of one another, inside and outside of the belt of dispensers. Virgin females were tethered throughout the vineyard. During both flight periods, male catches and tethered female matings inside the belt of dispensers were reduced by more than 90% in comparison with the outside. First generation damage was 12.4% outside and 3.9% inside. Reduction of damage was as important in the center of the trial as in the vicinity of the dispensers; in average 68.5%. This trial shows that mating disruption techniques could eventually be conducted by distributing a high density of dispensers along the edge, and by adding a large spaced grid of dispensers inside vineyards.