FACTORS AFFECTING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE MATING DISRUPTION TECHNIQUE: PRINCIPLES AND NECESSITIES

Since 1982 we gathered a considerable body of knowledge on this subject, based on experience obtained in diverse and extensive research and experimental work carried out on many thousands of hectares of vineyards and orchards in numerous European countries.
The work has been carried out in cooperation with colleagues from official institutes, many of whom are gathered here to take the opportunity of exchanging views, sharing experiences and general discussion.
It is notable, and also understandable since the disruption technique is relatively new, that almost everyone officially responsible for fruit and vine-growing in a particular region is eager to obtain a knowledge of this new method.
This is a welcome state of affairs, but it does mean that different observations made in different places are also given varying degrees of importance.
It would therefore seem necessary for the numerous results to be correlated, interpreted and questioned, in order to create a broad basis of knowledge for us all.
Of the numerous factors for discussion (Cardé and Minks 1995), let us first try to examine a few in more detail, and perhaps get a better idea of how they fit together.
Those factors are:

Adaptation and habituation (sensory fatigue), false trail following and competition, camouflage or masking, imbalance of sensory input, population density, pheromone composition (how important is the complete blend for disruption?), pheromone concentration per unit area, type of dispenser or curve of pheromone release, number of dispensers per hectare, uniformity of the pheromone atmosphere, environment and surroundings, proximity of untreated areas, shape of treated site, uniformity and height of trees, influence of wind, exposure of site (slope or plain), species behaviour and migration (emigration, immigration).

International Conference on Integrated Fruit Production

U. Neumann

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1996.422.43