ETHYL PROPIONATE - SYNERGISTIC KAIROMONE FOR AFRICAN PALM WEEVIL, RHYNCHOPHORUS-PHOENICIS L (COLEOPTERA, CURCULIONIDAE)

Small trunk pieces of a freshly felled 10-year-old oil palm, Elaeis quineensis (Jacq.), were placed in a modified Nalgene desiccator, and volatiles captured for six days on Porapak Q. Gas chromatographic (GC) analysis of Porapak-Q-trapped volatiles with both flame ionization (FID) and electroantennographic detection (EAD) using male or female R. phoenicis antennae revealed several EAD-active compounds. They were identified as: ethyl acetate, ethyl propionate, isobutyl propionate, ethyl butyrate, and ethyl isobutyrate. In field experiments in the La Me Research Station, Cote d'Ivoire, ethyl propionate (50 mg/24 hr) but not all esters combined (50 mg/24 hr each) significantly increased capture of R. phoenicis in pheromone-baited (3 mg/24 hr) traps. One kilogram of 1- to 3-day-old palm tissue was significantly more effective than ethyl propionate in enhancing pheromone attraction. Superior attraction of palm tissue may be attributed to additional as yet unknown semiochemicals. Alternatively, release rates and/or ratios of synthetic volatiles differed from those of palm tissue at peak attraction.