Exploitation of insect
pheromones in jute and allied
fibre agro ecosystem
“An insect is an old fashioned soldier: it does
what it is ordered to do; and when it has no
orders it does nothing”.
(….Wright, 1963)
The orders are given in form of chemical signals to alter the
behavior or change the course of development.
Semiochemicals …..?
They bring about behavioral changes in the perceiving organism at sub-
micro/nanogram levels.
Types:
Pheromones: Intraspecific communication chemicals.
Allelochemicals: Interspecific communication chemicals.
Pheromones:
Sex Pheromones
Aggregation Pheromones
Trail Pheromones
Alarming Pheromones
TARGET PESTS OF JUTE AND ALLIED FIBRE
CROPS
CROP PEST YIELD
LOSS
JUTE Bihar hairy Spilosoma obliqua
caterpillar
Jute weevil Apion corchori 18%
Indigo caterpillar Spodoptera exigua
Jute semi looper Anomis sabulifera 50%
SUNN Sunn hemp hairy Utetheisa lotrix
HEMP caterpillar
Sunn hemp stem Laspeyresia tricentra
borer
MESTA Hairy caterpilars Euproctis spp.
Stem Weevil Alcidodes affaber
CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF INSECT SEX PHEROMONES
Helicoverpa armigera
(Z)-11-hexadecenal and (Z)-9-hexadecenal (97:3)
Pectinophora gossypiella
cis cis and cis trans isomers of hexa decadienyl acetate
(EE)-7,11-hexadecadiene-1-ol-acetate (1:1)
Spodoptera litura
(Z,E) 9, 11 tetra decadienyl acetate
(Z,E) 9, 12 tetra decadienyl acetate (10:1)
Plutella xylostella
(Z)-11-hexadecenal , (Z)-9-hexadecenyl acetate
(Z)-11-hexadecen-1-ol , (Z)-9-tetradecenyl acetate
Scirpophaga incertulas
(Z)-9-hexadecenal
(Z)-11-hexadecenal (1:3)
Sesamia inferens
(Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate
(Z)-11-hexadecen-1-ol and (Z)-11-hexadecenal (4:1:0.1)
CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF INSECT SEX PHEROMONES
Mythimna separata
(Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate and (Z)-11-hexadecenal-1-ol(8:1)
Agrotis ypsilon
(Z)-7-dodecenyl acetate
(Z)-9-tetradecenyl acetate and (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate (3:1:15)
Spilosoma obliqua
(3Z,6Z)-cis-9,10-epoxyl,3,6-henicosatriene and (3Z,6Z)-cis-9,10-epoxy3,6-henicosadiene
Sitotroga cerealella
(Z,E)-7,11-hexadecediene 1-ol-acetate
Plodia interpunctella
(Z,E)-9,12-tetradecediene 1-ol-acetate and (Z,E)-9,12-tetradecediene 1-ol
Sitophilus oryzae
(R,5)-4-methyle-5-hydroxy 3-heptanone
Rhyzopertha dominica
1-methylbutyl(e)-2methyl-2-pentenoate1-methyl butyl (e)-2,4-dimethyl-22-pentenoate
Target insect pests in Jute and Allied Fibers
are……….
JUTE SEMI LOOPER
JUTE WEEVIL
SUNNHEMP HAIRY CATERPILLAR
INDIGO CATERPILLAR OF JUTE
EQUIPMENT THAT WILL BE OF
USEFUL…….
ELECTRO-ANTENNOGRAM
GAS CHROMATOGRAPH- ELECTRO -ANTENNOGRAM
DETECTOR
WIND TUNNEL
INSECT ACTOMETER
HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY
PHEROMONE BANK
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY- MASS SPECTROPHOTOMETRY
SCHEMATIC PICTURE OF PHEROMONE
EAG
EAG
ISOLATION
GC-EAD
Wind Tunnel
GC-MS
Syn.
Pheromone NMR
ATTRACTANTS and REPELLANTS
PLANT VOLATILES
Jute and allied fiber leaf extracts with solvents like hexane or
DCM coupled with EAG are to be used for getting responses.
TRITROPHIC INTERACTION MODE-
Studies can be made to characterize the allelochemical effects like
presence of kairomone /allomone within the leaf extracts.
Pheromones may be in following
ways in jute ecosystem
MATING DISRUPTION
MASS TRAPPING
LURE AND INFECT
Pheromone research can further be extended to study the
following aspects
Development of bisexual attractants based on sex
pheromone and host volatiles.
Molecular characterization of pheromone biosynthesis
activating neuropeptide
Molecular mechanisms underlying sex pheromone
production and characterization of the molecular
components involved in them.
How RNA interference / gene silencing helps in
suppression of desaturases in target insect pests.
Geographic variation of sex pheromone based on
mitochondrial DNA
Future areas of
work:
Development of nano-pheromones.
Development of para-pheromones for the target
pests of jute and allied fibres.
Apneumones are to be developed.
Problems on present status of pheromone technology
Insufficient investment in pheromone research
Lack of proper knowledge on identification and synthesis of
pheromones.
Limited commercial manufacture of pheromone technology for
control of insects. eg. Rice, cotton and brinjal developed.
Training programmes for pesticide dealers, farmers on
pheromone and ICM technologies are still limited.
To overcome the limitations related to pheromone technology for crop
protection few recommendations:
Investment should be raised in pheromone research works collaborated with
different agro-based research institutes and agricultural universities.
The fund should be raised to help generate pheromone-based technologies with
climate change hazards and disseminate such technologies at farmers’
level.
Government might encourage establishment of farmer’s cooperatives to ensure
the availability of the pheromones on time.
Contribution of private sector and NGOs has to be encouraged to quality
pheromone production.
Attempts on pheromone technologies should be made to transfer at the field
level.
Farmers should as well be motivated to reduce their dependence on the use of
chemical pesticides to control harmful pest insects.
Conduction of appropriate training programs on pheromone technologies with
farmers, field level agricultural officers, researchers/scientists are
necessary.
THANK
YOU
