Traps for Alenka hairy

Hairy Alenka (lat. name Epicometis (Tropinota) Hirta) is a beetle (order Coleoptera, family Scarabaeidae, subfamily Cetoniinae). Causes damage to the berries, such as strawberries, as well as harm to many other fruit crops (Apple, pear, currant, etc.). Distributed in the warmer regions of Central and Eastern Europe. Adults feed on flowers and ripening fruit. Chemical control virtually impossible. A group of researchers from plant protection Institute of Budapest (Hungary) conducted a study with the aim of developing traps with bait polychemicals having a high filling capacity, which can be used in mass trapping to reduce the density of pest population.

Damage Alenka hairy tree...

and strawberries.....

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Visually attractive stimuli. Alenka hairy very attracted to the bright color stimuli. The study compared the catches of traps with funnels of different colors. Most reactions ever recorded on the light blue traps.

Chemically attractive stimuli. Screening common floral compounds, was was clear the reaction of the pest on cinnamic alcohol (E)-cinnamyl (E)-anethol. Moreover, was observed a synergistic effect when using these components together. Further, Appendix 4-methoxyphenethyl alcohol to a mixture of (E)-cinnamyl + (E)-anethol is also provided synergy.

Development traps. Was developed by a funnel-shaped trap under the code названиемVARb3k that contains attractive visual and chemical signals (light blue colour and a synthetic blend of floral compounds). VARb3k trap catches of male and female individuals and can catch up to one thousand beetles without overflow.

This same trap was also effective for catching a close relative Alenka hairy - Tropinota squalida (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae), which gives preference to white. T. squalida cause damage similar to E. Hirta but is more common to the South, in the Mediterranean countries and the Middle East.

The use of VARb3k traps for mass trapping in the number of 12-15 traps per hectare was effective in reducing the number of beetles on strawberries and Apple trees. Testing for other cultures also gives encouraging results.

Beetles caught in a single day in the Apple orchard