Environmentally Friendly Strategies for Controlling the European Grapevine Moth, Lobesia botrana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

Abstract

Terlemezyan, H., M. Sargsyan, H. Harutyunyan, S. Sargsyan and N. Zarikian. 2023. Environmentally Friendly Strategies for Controlling the European Grapevine Moth, Lobesia botrana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). Arab Journal of Plant Protection, 41(3): 272-277. https://doi.org/10.22268/AJPP-041.3.272277 The European grapevine moth, Lobesia botrana (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), a palearctic pest, has been the target of an international control campaign. Agricultural production areas in Armenia were identified as lacking effective control in 2019- 2020. The results of using a mixture of bacterial and chemical insecticides (BTTER-55 + Coragen, BTTER-94 + Coragen) were effective in controlling this pest. Coragen combined with sublethal concentration of bacterial insecticides (BTTER-55 + Coragen, BTTER-94 + Coragen) showed high biological efficiency against young larvae of grapevine moth under vineyard conditions. It has been proven also that, Coragen together with the applied insecticides that fell on the soil after spraying were less dangerous ecologically since they reduced the number of soil-living ammonifiers for only a short period (1-2 months). In addition, results obtained confirmed that the bacterial insecticides BTTER-55 and BTTER-94 differed in morphological and physiological features, particularly in the size of vegetative cells and spores formed by them, as well as in the size of insecticidal crystalline bodies, colonies shape and assimilation of carbon and nitrogen sources. Keywords: Armenia, European grapevine moth, insecticide, Invasive pests, Plant protection.