Analysis of field-weathered lures containing (E)-10-dodecen-1-yl acetate, a sex attractant for the pea moth, Cydia nigricana (F.)

Natural rubber stoppers treated with 1, 3, or 10 mg of (E)-10-dodecen-1-yl acetate, an attractant for male pea moth,Cydia nigricana (F.), were exposed in the field during the summer of 1978 and samples analyzed at intervals. The results for all three doses fitted well to first-order loss curves with half-lives of 63.5, 64.7, and 67.3 days, respectively. Thus, lures with an initial dose of 3 mg of the attractant retained approximately 1 mg after 3 months of field exposure; they should therefore maintain a constant level of attractiveness throughout this period because previous field studies showed that moths were equally responsive to fresh lures containing between 1 and 10 mg of the attractant. There was no loss of attractant during the preparation of lures or after 4 months at -15 ° C and only 13% was lost during 3 months of storage at room temperature.