RASPBERRY BEETLE BYTURUS TOMENTOSUS: FLIGHT MONITORING WITH SEMIOCHEMICAL TRAPS IN SWITZERLAND

Byturus tomentosus (De Geer), the raspberry beetle, is a major pest at high altitude in Switzerland.
The damage is caused by adults and larvae who modify fruits’ shape and colour and make them dry up.
There is one generation per year.
There is a demand for alternative methods to control pests without pesticides residues on fresh fruits.
The flight of the raspberry beetle has been monitored for the first time in 2008 in the Swiss Alps with a semiochemical trap (floral attractant) developed in Scotland by the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI). Fifty traps per hectare were installed in 2008 before flowering (beginning of June) and were immediately attractive.
In 2009 and 2010, the traps were installed respectively two weeks and four weeks earlier and the number of adults caught was much more significant.
These results mean that raspberry beetles’ activity occurs much earlier than previously thought.
However, while 9.6% of the fruits were damaged in 2008, only 3.3% were damaged in 2010. These results shows that traps are attractive and efficient and could be a useful tool in integrated pest management.

XXVIII International Horticultural Congress on Science and Horticulture for People (IHC2010): International Symposium on Berries: From Genomics to Sustainable Production, Quality and Health

C.A. Baroffio

soft fruits, raspberry, biological control, raspberry flower volatile

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2012.926.88