Abstract

A flight tunnel study was done to decipher the behavioral effect of grape odor in grapevine moth Lobesia botrana. A blend of 10 volatile compounds, which all elicit a strong antennal response, attracts mated grapevine moth females from a distance, by upwind orientation flight. These 10 grape volatiles are in part behaviorally redundant, since attraction to a 3-component blend of beta-caryophyllene, (E)-beta-farnesene and (E)-4.8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene was not significantly different from the 10-component blend. Blending these three compounds had a strong synergistic effect on female attraction, and omission of any one compound from this 3-component blend almost abolished attraction. It was nonetheless possible to substitute the three compounds with the other grape volatiles which are perceived by the female antenna, to partly restore attraction. Several blends, of varying composition, elicited significant attraction. The observed behavioral plasticity in response to grape volatile blends probably reflects the variation of the natural plant signal, since females oviposit on different grape varieties, in different phenological stages. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Keywords

Vitis cinifera; Vitaceae; grapevine; attraction bioassay; wind tunnel; plant volatiles; kairomone; odor signal; host finding; Lobesia botrana

Published in

Phytochemistry
2007, volume: 68, number: 2, pages: 203-209
Publisher: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Authors' information