Research Projects

Plutella xylostella is a pest of crucifer's vegetables, causing huge losses in India and across the world. It has developed resistance to almost all major groups of insecticides, rendering chemical methods useless in India. The proposal aims to evaluate and develop a l lure by combining optimized sex pheromone blends with plant-derived volatiles to attract both male and female of P. xylostella. Such type of lures will not only enhance trapping efficiency but enables implementation of advanced strategies, beyond monitoring, to manage this pest through mass trapping and lure & kill. Current pheromone lures available in India are male-specific and show inconsistent performance due to strain-specific responses across different ago-climatic conditions. Geographical evaluation of lure efficacy across major vegetable zones of India to ensure region-specificity. Therefore, it is imperative to optimize the pheromone blend composition and delivery systems according to regional needs. This will act as a foundation for the promotion of pheromone application in future as right ratio, right compounds for right strains of Plutella xylostella ought to have developed. Development of such lures will facilitate year-round monitoring and control of P. xylostella. Despite the availability of male specific pheromone lures, inconsistent field performance across different climatic zones of India hampers their adoption. This inconsistency is attributed to genetic variations in P. xylostella populations, degradation of pheromone compounds in high temperatures and humidity, inappropriate release rates from current dispensers, inadequate blend formulations not optimized for Indian strains at different locations. Our proposal will address the following objectives:1) To identify and screen host plant volatiles from cruciferous crops for their attractiveness for the development of bisexual lure to attract both male and female of P. xylostella 2) To assess the synergistic effect of plant volatiles combined with sex pheromones in mass trapping or lure-and-kill approaches, and, 3) To solve the problems in efficacy of different pheromone blends and development of pheromone dispensers for trapping P. xylostella under Indian agro-climatic conditions. As mother known the best, when and where to lay eggs on host crops for the survival of their off-springs,our hypothesis will be to test particular cruciferious-mediated plant volatiles, attractive to P. xylostella females, as landing of female insect on particular plants is not a fun. Therefore, the host volatiles will be combined with sex pheromones to develop a bisexual lure. Further, optimization of dispenser for bi-sexual lure with plant volatiles and sex pheromone blend to increase catch rates and population reduction in field and finally to develop a semiochemical based attraction in which the olfactory cues from sex pheromones and host volatiles jointly will increase the behavioral responses across both sexes. To accomplish these objectives and hypothesis, volatile collection and identification through volatile collection chamber and GC-MS,respectively,olfactometry behavioural assays through, blend optimization and lure formulations for evaluation of lures at different geographical regions of India to develop standard lures, optimal blend ratios for bisexual attraction to observe population reduction, and crop damage. To make these objectives achievable, this grant proposal is a pillar for semiochemistry and non-chemical approaches for pest management. It will set a base for chemical ecology and olfaction driven behaviors in P. xylostella.