Greenhouse trapping assessment and population dynamics of leaf miner Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) in E-Shan, Southwest China

The tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta is a destructive pest for Solanaceae crops. While pheromone traps are widely used to monitor this pest, the efficiency of this technique remains to be improved. To improve the efficacy of the pheromone traps, a field study was performed in Southwest China where there is a current outbreak of this pest. Different trap heights (0.5, 1.5 and 2.5 m), hanging methods (ladder and vertical), and concentrations of pheromone compounds (0, 1, 2 and 3 mg) were investigated, and their trapping efficiencies were assessed. The results showed that the traps at a height of 0.5 m achieved the best trapping efficiencies among all the tested heights, with trapping effect values ranging between 40.19% and 48.59%. Further, the performance of the ladder hanging method was superior to that of the vertical hanging method. The maximum trapping amount of T. absoluta was achieved with the use of 2.8 mg of pheromone compound mixture. The dose was extrapolated from calculation. This study provides a theoretical basis for the monitoring and trapping assessment of T. absoluta.