US008481062B2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 8,481,062 B2 Vargas Arispuro et al. (45) Date of Patent: Jul. 9, 2013 (54) MIXTURE AND METHOD FOR (56) References Cited CONTROLLING THE INSECT ACROBASIS NUXVORELLA ON CAR YA ILLINOIENSIS U-S- PATENT DOCUMENTS PLANTS 5,521,165 A * 5/1996 Warren et a1. ................. .. 514/64 7,230,033 B2 * 6/2007 Dolan et al. .. (75) Inventors: Irasema del Carmen Vargas Arispuro, 2005/0171213 A1 * 8/2005 Zhu et al' """""""""" " 514/690 Sonora (MX); Miguel Angel Martinez FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS Téllez, Sonora Maria W0 W0 9848625 A1 * 11/1998 Guadalupe Corella, Carretera a la Victoria Km (MX) OTHER PUBLICATIONS Mahmoud M. M. Soliman, Phytochemical and toxicological studies (73) Assignee: Centro de Investigacion en ofArtemisis /. (Compositae) essential oil against some insect pests, Alimentacion y Desarrollo A.C., Archives of Phytopathology and Plant Protection, Apr. 2007, 40(2), Hermosillo, Sonora (MX) 128-138.* M. Lawrence Henneman, Response to Walnut Olfactory and Visual ( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this Cues by the Parasitic Wasp Diachasmimorphajug/andis, Journal of Chemical Ecology, Nov. 2002, 28 (11), pp. 2221-2244.* patent is extended or adjusted under 35 Israel L. Andrade, Chemical Composition and Insecticidal Activity U.S.C. 154(b) by 83 days. of Essential Oils from Vanillosmopsis poh/ii Baker against Bemisia argentifo/ii, J. Agric. Food Chem., Aug. 2004, 52, pp. 5879-5881.* (21) Appl. No.: 12/998,563 Mody, N., et al., Volatile Components of Pecan Leaves and Nuts, Carya il/inoensis Koch J. Agric. Food Chem., 1976, vol. 24 (1), pp. (22) PCT Filed: Nov. 3, 2008 175-177. SAES-422:S1017, Improved Systems for Management of Economi cally-Important . , Jan. 19, 2009, <URL: http://www.minss.umd. (86) PCT No.: PCT/MX2008/000149 edu/homepages/saes.cfm?trackID-6817. § 371 (0)0)’ (2), (4) Date: Jun. 27, 2011 * cited by examiner (87) PCT Pub. No.: WO2010/050791 Primary Examiner * Melenie McCormick Assistant Examiner * Andrew Lee PCT Pub. Date: May 6, 2010 (74) Attorney, Agent, 0rFirm * Hudak, Shunk & Farine Co. LPA (65) Prior Publication Data US 2011/0251292 A1 Oct. 13,2011 (57) ABSTRACT The invention consists of a mixture of organic chemicals (30) Foreign Application Priority Data avoiding the use of insecticides, and a method for pest control based on the mixture consisting in bringing about the prema Nov. 3, 2008 (MX) .................. .. MX/a/2008/014015 ture eclosion of the hibernating larva and its possible death through inanition; experimentation has demonstrated it to be (51) Int. Cl. effective in bringing about the premature eclosion of the A01N 25/00 (2006.01) pecan nut casebearer or Acrobasis nuxvorella (Lepidoptera: A01N 59/04 (2006.01) Pyralidae) on pecan trees (Carya illinoiensis). The objective A01N 27/00 (2006.01) is to provide an ecological method for controlling pests such (52) US. Cl. as the pecan nut casebearer, in this manner reducing or avoid USPC .......................... .. 424/405; 504/101; 514/919 ing the use of inorganic chemical insecticides which have a (58) Field of Classi?cation Search signi?cant impact on the environment. None See application ?le for complete search history. 5 Claims, 1 Drawing Sheet US. Patent Jul. 9, 2013 US 8,481,062 B2 H§bemacuium Biaassay TC! 1‘ 4 cm BWE 6% 3. 2 cm BWE 4‘ 2 cm BWE 5% 5. W; pecan nut 6* WE sewn nut £arva§Emergency(%) 3 I11 Can’tmi 28 ig345s? gWE 1" Shoat fmm wewam vaféety Tmatmems 8W? - 5mm frim": Washita variety US 8,481,062 B2 1 2 MIXTURE AND METHOD FOR gence, oviposition, hatching and ?rst larval entrance into CONTROLLING THE INSECT ACROBASIS nutlets. The daily heat units are determined as follows: N UXVORELLA ON CARYA ILLINOIENSIS Daily HU:[(Maximum Temperature+minimum Tem— PLANTS perature)/2]—basal Temperature TECHNICAL FIELD wherein basal temperature is 38° F. (33° C.). Once the appropriate time of control is determined, it is The present invention relates to the ?eld of biotechnology necessary to know if the pest population is capable of causing to control pests affecting crops. 5% or more damage to the pecan nut yield expected to be harvested. This is determined by sampling eggs and larval BACKGROUND bores into the nutlets, randomly reviewing ten clusters per tree in at least 32 trees. An initial sampling should be done One of the major insect pests infesting pecan nut trees when there is between 963-979 HU accumulated, if two or more clusters are infested, before reviewing the 320 total (Carya illinoiensis) from northern Mexico and southern clusters, this is considered as an indication that an economic United States is the pecan nut casebearer or Acrobasis nux damage will occur and that chemical control should be per vorella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). When not properly con formed. If there is no damaged clusters, a second sampling is trolled this pest causes more than 40% loss of nut clusters. done after two or three days, when there is an accumulation of Pecan nut casebearer completes three to four generations 1,007 HU, following the same procedure, if the infestation per year. The process begins in the early spring when the 20 reaches the indicated threshold of action, the chemical control winter larvae emerge from their cocoons and feed on young should be applied immediately, in order to avoid economical buds and shoots of pecan nut tree. Later, the mature larva damage. Still, a third sampling can be done two days later and pupate in the cracks and creases of the bark or in tunnels in the if three or more infested clusters are found, it is an indication shoots. Moths from these overwintering larvae oviposit the that there may be economical damage, however, the decision eggs of the ?rst generation in the young nuts. 25 to apply, will based on the producer judgment, based on The newly hatched ?rst generation larvae do not feed whether the oviposition was delayed by weather conditions. directly from the nutlets, but feed on the buds for a period of The process can be summarized as: two to four days, during which they are exposed to the action 1“. Installation of pheromone traps four weeks before the of insecticides. Therefore, the control should focus on this ?rst day of fertilizer spraying or as predicted by the method of stage of the pest, because once they are inside the nut, the 30 accumulation of hours of heat from the point of 50% sprout larvae are protected from insecticide treatments. These ?rst mg. generation larvae are the ones having the highest population 2”. A sampling of eggs is performed 7 to 10 days after ?rst density and causing major economic losses. A single larva moth is caught, or 7 to 10 days before the accumulation of the can destroy many nuts and even the entire cluster in order to required hours of heat. Check 10 clusters for eggs per tree in complete its development. The following two generations are 35 a sample of 30 to 32 trees, if two clusters per tree are infested less numerous and cause less damage to the crop yield, it is considered that 5% of the harvest will be affected which because by this time the nuts are larger and one larva com is the minimum of harm to justify the use of insecticides. pletes its development on a single nut or the nuts may not be 3”. Monitor the color of the eggs daily to determine the susceptible to the pest attack. Therefore, the phytosanitary time of hatching. control is directed primarily to the ?rst generation. 40 4”. Apply insecticide two days after detecting the ?rst At the onset of fall, the larvae from last generation prepare hatching, or at the moment in which the entry of the larva into to enter diapause or hibernation and migrate to the base of a the nut is detected. dormant bud where they build a silk cocoon called a hiber 5°. Repeat the above steps in order to control the second naculum in which they will spend the winter. generation. The control of the ?rst and second generations Development of this overwintering stage is affected by the 45 affects the yield while the control of the third generation temperatures of autumn and winter. A report from INIFAP affects the quality of the crop. Mexico Seminar on pecan nut tree in April 2007 showed an The traditional method of control of this pest is based on unusually low density of hibernating larvae as a probable the idea that the hibernating larva evolves according to the consequence of the deaths caused when temperatures reached hours of heat it receives, so once the environmental tempera 95° F. (35° C.) in the fall-winter 2005. It is believed that the 50 ture in autumn and winter does provide the heat necessary for worm diapause ends when the pecan nut tree gets out of its its development, approximately 800 HU>78° F. (33° C.), the dormant state. It is at this point that the worm hatches from the worm hatches from its cocoon. Under this theory, the larva is hibemaculum and feeds on buds and young shoots. able to detect when spring arrives and emerge at the time the Control of this pest is based on two methods: 1) accumu pecan nut tree gets out of its dormant state and has produced lation of heat units (HU) from shooting and 2) monitoring 55 buds and shoots which the larvae can feed on. with pheromone traps, which can establish the appropriate The traditional method of monitoring, therefore, requires time an insecticide will be applied to the newly hatched larvae egg monitoring, installation of traps and monitoring of moths and before entering the nut.