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Development of a Phytochemical-Based Lure for the Dried Bean Beetle Acanthoscelides obtectus Say (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

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Abstract

The dried bean beetle, Acanthoscelides obtectus, is an economically important, worldwide pest of legume crops including dry beans, Phaseolus vulgaris. Assessment of A. obtectus infestation levels in pre-harvest field crops and post-harvest granaries is difficult to achieve because there is no effective monitoring tool for early detection so that interventions can be deployed as needed. Because A. obtectus is a generic pollen and nectar feeder, we adopted an electrophysiological (EAG) screening approach, using the antennae of female A. obtectus to identify physiologically active, volatile phytochemicals, which could then be investigated for their attractiveness to A. obtectus in laboratory behavioral assays and preliminary field tests. Of the 27 compounds tested in EAG screening, 5 compounds, i.e., methyl anthranilate, methyl eugenol, benzyl alcohol, (RS)-lavandulol, and 2-phenylethanol, elicited stronger EAG responses than the standard (1-phenylethanol). In 4-arm olfactometer bioassays, female A. obtectus preferred the olfactometer arm containing the odor of either methyl anthranilate or benzyl alcohol compared to the solvent control. In preliminary field tests using these 2 compounds as a binary mixture, at least 5 times as many beetles were caught on baited traps compared to non-baited traps. The field data also suggested that benzyl alcohol was primarily responsible for the field activity of the blend. We hypothesize that the attraction of A. obtectus to the combined benzyl alcohol/methyl anthranilate and the single benzyl alcohol baits is connected to the species` nectar- and pollen-feeding behaviour and not to its intraspecific communication. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence that A. obtectus behavior in the field can be modified by the deployment of plant-derived semiochemicals.

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Funding

This work was in part supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) (grant K81494 to JV), the Research and Technology Innovation Fund (grant OMFB-00609/2010 to JV), and the Royal Society, United Kingdom (grant IE111142 to JV). The work at Rothamsted formed part of the Smart Crop Protection (SCP) strategic programme (BBS/OS/CP/000001) funded through the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. Szabolcs Szanyi was supported by an “NTP-NFTÖ-19-B-0288” scholarship.

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  1. Lisa König

    Present address: , Vienna, Austria

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biointeractions and Crop Protection, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK

    József Vuts, Lisa König & Michael A. Birkett

  2. Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, Institute of Plant Protection, University of Debrecen, Hungary, UK

    Szabolcs Szanyi & Antal Nagy

  3. Juhász-Nagy Pál Doctoral School of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University of Debrecen, Hungary, UK

    Kálmán Szanyi

  4. Department of Hydrobiology, University of Debrecen, Hungary, UK

    Kálmán Szanyi

  5. Plant Protection Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research, Budapest, Hungary

    Zoltán Imrei & Miklós Tóth

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  1. József Vuts
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Contributions

JV, MT, and MAB conceived the study, JV conducted EAG experiments and analyzed data statistically, JV performed air entrainment and GC analyses, LK performed the 4-arm olfactometry, and JV analyzed data statistically, SzSz, KSz, AN, and MT ran field experiments, ZI analysed field data statistically, JV and MAB wrote the first draft, and all authors reviewed and approved the final draft.

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Correspondence to József Vuts.

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Vuts, J., Szanyi, S., Szanyi, K. et al. Development of a Phytochemical-Based Lure for the Dried Bean Beetle Acanthoscelides obtectus Say (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). J Chem Ecol 47, 987–997 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-021-01305-7

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