16—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 11, 1973
Oak Leaf Roller
Oaki leaf roller moths at The
Pennsylvania State University
have proved that a little sex goes
a long way. About one ten
millionth of a gram of
pheromone, the sex attractant in
the abdomen of one female moth,
attracts males.
There’s more proof that
pheromone exists in extremely
small amounts in the female. In
getting enough material to use in
developing a synthetic at
tractant, Penn State lab
technicians extracted substance
from some 20,000 female moths.
When they were finished, they
had less than one-half milligram
of useful attractant-about equal
to a dozen grains of salt or a few
flakes of detergent.
A late June-early July project
of collecting oak leaf roller
pupae, hatching the moths, and
extracting pheromone was a
cooperative effort of personnel in
the College of Agriculture and the
College of Science. The goal of
chemists and entomologists is to
determine how chemical com
munication takes place among
oak leaf roller moths. Central
figures in the research are Dr.
Lawrence B. Hendry in
chemistry and Dr. Ralph O.
Mumma in entomology
(chemical pesticides).
The two scientists consider the
oak leaf roller project an ex
cellent example of in
terdisciplinary research. The
ultimate goal, of course, is pest
management.
The most exhausting task in
removing material from the
abdomens of 20,000 female oak
leaf roller moths is to refine the
substance to an effective sex
attractant. The trick, says Dr.
Hendry, is to determine what
kind and how much natural
pheromone a female moth has--
and then put it back together in
snythetic form.
In the field, Dr. Hendry and
associates found that one
material isolated from the
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Moths Patterns Studied
female attracted up to 7,000
males. This occurred during one
week. However, Dr. Mumma and
Dr. Hendry believe ideal sex
attractant for oak leaf rollers is
not one chemical but a com
bination. Finding this “needle in
a chemical haystack” is their
immediate goal. When the ideal
pheromone is determined, the
sex attractant will be used in
infected areas to confuse oak leaf
rollers and thus keep them from
mating, or to attract moths to
trtaps.
Over several years, one million
acres of trees have been
destroyed in Pennsylvania by the
oak leaf roller. While no serious
outbreaks have occurred since
the early 1900’s, damage tends to
occur over a number of years.
Injury from the oak leaf roller
has been severe in recent years in
Michigan and several eastern
states.
The studies found that male
oak leaf roller moths respond to
pheromone for only 2 hours
during the night in lab tests and
give no response during daylight
hours.
Authenticity of extracts from
female moths was tested in flight
chambers where male moths are
kept in the new Davy Laboratory,
headquarters for chemistry at
University Park. Sex attractant
material from a female is placed
on cotton attached to a pipe
cleaner inserted into the flight
chamber.
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‘lf any three moths attempt
to copulate with the cotton within
25 to 30 seconds, the material is
considered a sex attractant,” Dr.
Hendry explains.
To obtain about 20,000 female
moths for the one-half milligram
of pheromone, the Penn State
scientists started with 60,000
pupae. Not all hatched but the
results producted 45,000 moths
half of them males and half
females. A crew of young people,
mostly students, collected pupae
from mid to late'June.
Most of the hatching of moths
took place in early July. The
largest hatch of 7,000 adult moths
occurred July 2. That was the day
that Patterson Building,
headquarters for the department
of entomology, saw Room 215
engulfed with about 40,000 jelly
jars each containing one pupa.
One-ounce jelly jars, the type
used in hotels and restaurants,
were used as incubation cham
bers.
Flood Study
Underway
In County
Many Lancaster County
communities are now being
studied by the U. S. Soil Con
servation Service to determine
H there,
pardnet
whether they are subject to
flooding, according to District
Conservationist Orval Bass.
Bass said the special flood
hazard inventory will be used by
the U: S. Housing and Urban
Development in carrying out the
Federal Flood Insurance
Program.
The District Conservationist
said that flood-prone com
munities are defined as areas
subject to flooding by a 100 year
frequency storm. Expressed
another way, its a community
which has about a one percent
chance of annual flooding.
Under the study, Hass said
areas of each floodprone com
munity will be located on detailed
maps and the sources of flooding
identified.
The tile and address of the head
of the local unit of government
having authority to control land
use and issue building permits
will be listed. This information
will be included in a state and
national summary, Bass re
ported.
Vegetable Field
Day Sept. 12
A statewide field day for
commercial vegetable growers
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OENVEa R.D. 1
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will be held September 12 at the
Horticultural Research Farm of
The Pennsylvania State
University, located 10 n. west
of the University Park caiuyus on
Route 45.
ut special interest to vegetable
growers will be machine har
vesting of cucumbers and cab
bage, variety and fertilizer trials,
genetic research with vegetable
crops and potatoes, disease and
insect studies, and chemical
weed control.
If growing conditions permit it,
field day visitors will have an
opportunity to sample Penn
State’s latest achievements in
developing high sugar sweet
com. Researchers hope to have
some high sugar com available
for visitors to eat at noontime.
Tours of the various research
plots will start no later than 10
a.m. x
“Vegetable growers should fine
this field day both profitable and
interesting,” states Charles J.
Noll, field day chairman from the
department of horticulture.
Lunch will be served at the
Horticultural Research Farm by
a local church group.
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Phone 717-354-5848
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