Success
Stories
Enzyme/Polymer
Complexes
Starch/Thermoplastic
Resin Composites
Live
Vaccine for Cattle Shipping Fever
ESR
Pig Fecundity Test
Porcine
Embryonic Stem Cell Technology
The
OCS-Mas Super Promoter
The
Pesticidal Fruit Decoy
BRDC Success Stories:
Pesticidal Fruit Decoys
To the fruit industry, egg-laying flies are a major pest. Once hatched, their larvae burrow in and ultimately destroy the fruit.
However, BRDC and ARS scientists have developed a fruit decoy to protect fruit from these pests. Comprised of starch, corn syrup, and rodent feeding deterrents, the decoys are coated with a blend of insecticide and sugar-laced paint—colored to attract specific pests (e.g. red for the apple maggot fly). When flies land on these decoys to lay their eggs, they detect sugar within the paint and begin feeding, thus ingesting the pesticide.
Field trials have demonstrated this device to be highly effective in protecting apples, blueberries, and cherries from insect attack.
BRDC and ARS have entered into a joint development agreement with a Central Illinois start-up, Fruitspheres, Inc., to commercialize this technology. Phase one scale-up and commercial production will take place at the ARS National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research laboratory in Peoria, Illinois.
If you would like more information about Pesticidal Fruit Decoys, contact:
J. Grant Brewen, Ph. D.
BRDC
1815 N. University Street
Peoria, IL 61604
309-688-1188 phone
309-688-1292 fax
