COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS SIMULATION OF HERBIVORE-INDUCED PLANT VOLATILES AROUND GREENHOUSES

Plants emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in response to herbivory.
One of the ecological functions of herbivore-induced plant volatiles is to attract carnivorous natural enemies of the herbivores.
Such carnivore attractants could be used for biological pest management.
To attract carnivorous natural enemies using synthetic attractants in the field, their concentrations should be maintained at appropriate levels in the targeted area.
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) could provide a useful approach for designing attractants when compared with field approaches that are considerably time consuming.
In this study, we present a methodology using numerical simulation to design the concentration of carnivore attractants.
The dispersion of VOCs emitted from attractants in greenhouses was simulated to evaluate the results of previously conducted field tests.
The attractive VOCs dispersed according to wind direction.
The area covered with the attractants of a higher concentration was considerably greater than that covered with attractants of a lower concentration.
The results partly explained the outcomes of the field tests.
The possible use of the attractants in agroecosystems is presented.

International Symposium on Advanced Technologies and Management Towards Sustainable Greenhouse Ecosystems: Greensys2011

T. Kuroyanagi, J. Abe, M. Uefune, J. Takabayashi

dispersion, volatile organic compounds, attractant, natural enemy, pest control

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2012.952.17