• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.393-398
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• 2020

The blueberry gall midge, Dasineura oxycoccana (Johnson) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), is an emerging pest on cultivated blueberries in Korea. To develop a sensitive tool for monitoring this pest in blueberry orchards, we compared the attractiveness of host plant volatiles and sex pheromone to D. oxycoccana adults. We performed gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of solid-phase microextraction (SPME)-collected volatiles that were released from blueberry ('Darrow' cultivar). The analysis revealed two major volatiles, cinnamaldehyde and cinnamyl alcohol from flowers; and three major volatiles, β-caryophyllene, germacrene D, and α-farnesene from shoots and young fruits. In field tests conducted in Gunsan, Korea in 2019, commercialized cinnamaldehyde, cinnamyl alcohol, β-caryophyllene, and α-farnesene, used singly or in quaternary combination, were unattractive to the blueberry gall midge. However, traps baited with the known sex pheromone (2R,14R)-2,14-diacetoxyheptadecane attracted significantly more males than the treatments with plant volatiles or the control. No synergistic effect was observed between sex pheromone and plant volatiles. Male D. oxycoccana were captured in the pheromone traps from May to August, with three peaks in mid-May, late June, and late July in Gunsan blueberry fields in 2020.