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The role of acetic acid in the attraction of the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata to ammonium acetate

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Abstract

Ammonium acetate is a well-known and widely-used attractant, primarily as the main and essential component of the dry bait BioLure, in many fruit fly control systems. The integrated attractiveness of ammonium acetate and the attractiveness of its two volatile components were studied in laboratory experiments on both females and males of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata. Acetic acid was barely attractive for females and was very attractive for the males. Ammonia was significantly more attractive to females and the integrated attractiveness of ammonium acetate was higher for males than females.

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Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Alexander Peysakhis for his supportive technical assistance, to Ruth Akiva from the Israel Cohen Institute for Biological Control in the Plants Production & Marketing Board who is always ready to provide me flies for the experiments, to Hagit Baram who helped me with the statistical analyses and to Prof. Rachel Galun, my friend and mentor, for her valuable comments on previous drafts of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural Research Organization, A.R.O, Institute of Plant Protection, The Volcani Center, P.O.B. 15159, Rishon LeTsion, Israel

    Michal L. Mazor

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  1. Michal L. Mazor
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Correspondence to Michal L. Mazor.

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Mazor, M. The role of acetic acid in the attraction of the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata to ammonium acetate. Phytoparasitica 46, 377–381 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12600-018-0666-6

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