Identification and Field Evaluation of Sex Pheromone Components and Its Antagonist Produced by a Major Tea Pest, (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae).

Pesticide application is the only known control method for the tea tortrix (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), which is a major pest of spring tea in China. To develop sex pheromone-based, environmentally safe control strategies, here we identified the sex pheromone components of this species. The male moths' antennae responded electrophysiologically to two compounds in female pheromone gland extracts. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis indicated that the two bioactive compounds were ()-11-tetradecenyl acetate (Z11-14:Ac) and ()-11-tetradecenyl alcohol (Z11-14:OH). Field trapping assays showed that lures baited with only the major component Z11-14:Ac were the most attractive to male moths, and the attractiveness decreased significantly when the lure was impregnated with increased relative ratios of the minor component Z11-14:OH. Our study demonstrated that Z11-14:Ac was the major attractant in the sex pheromone, and the minor component Z11-14:OH seemed to serve as an antagonist. The results indicate that lures baited with 1 mg of Z11-14:Ac could be used as a monitoring or mass trapping tool for management in Chinese tea plantations. Furthermore, Z11-14:Ac was identified as a common sex pheromone attractant of nine species; these results lay the foundation for developing mating disruption techniques that target multiple leafroller pests.