Estimation of repellency of a volatile compound, sec-butyl β-styryl ketone, against fruit-piercing moths

Fruit-piercing moths such as Oraesia excavata (Butler), O. emarginata (Fabricius) and Adris tyrannus amurensis (Staudinger) are attracted to the volatiles emitted from various fruits and cause damage to these fruits. Especially, the volatiles emitted from ripe peach fruits are known to be attractive to the moths. In the present experiment, the repellency of a volatile compound, sec-butyl β-styryl ketone (4-methyl-1-phenylhex-1-en-3-one), was examined in or around peach orchards in order to prevent damage by fruit-piercing moths. In orchard experiments the moths were attracted and captured by ripe peach fruit traps. The number of captured moths in the traps was reduced by sec-butyl β-styryl ketone treatment, and hardly any moths were captured at a release rate of 1.0 mg/day. A significant reduction in ripe peach fruit damage was recorded with the use of sec-butyl β-styryl ketone (10 tubes of 1.0 mg/day release rate/tree). These results suggest that sec-butyl β-styryl ketone is a good repellent against fruit-piercing moths in the peach orchards.