Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Raman Spectroscopy to Detect and Measure NOW Pheromones. Annual Report [2021]

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1834477· OSTI ID:1834477
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  2. Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States)
  3. US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), Washington, DC (United States). Agricultural Research Service

Insect sex pheromones are chemical compounds that insects release to attract mates over distances of hundreds of meters or even kilometers, in complete darkness and without any audible signals. Use of synthetic forms of key compounds have in some cases become an essential component of monitoring and/or managing key pests of agricultural crops, including navel orangeworm (Amyelois transitella) (NOW) in California tree nuts There are currently multiple commercially available mating disruption products available for NOW and recent studies have demonstrated that they can be effectively used to reduce crop damage. How mating disruption works is not fully established and likely varies across products and target species. For instance, it is not well understood how synthetic pheromones compete with natural pheromones and, in the case of monitoring, how efficaciously the insect follows the diffusing plumes and how those evolve from emission points, especially across large blocks and at plot borders. We proposed to evaluate the use of enhanced Raman spectroscopy for the detection of synthetic and natural NOW pheromones and, were that to be successful, use it in subsequent years to measure pheromone diffusion in orchards.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1834477
Report Number(s):
LLNL-SR-829416; 1045385
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English