Efficacy of the auto-confusion system for mating disruption of Ephestia kuehniella (Zeller) and Plodia interpunctella (Hübner)

•Auto-confusion decreased Ephestia kuehniella captures after application in a feed mill.•Auto-confusion decreased Plodia interpunctella captures after application in stores.•Auto-confusion reduced number of individuals in oviposition traps in stores.

The auto-confusion system for stored-product pyralid moths, based on the contamination of adult males with the sex female pheromone (Z,E)-9,12-tetradecadienyl acetate (commercially known as TDA or ZETA), was evaluated. For this purpose, we applied Exosex SPTab dispensers that contained the Entostat™ powder, at a 5 × 5 m grid, in three facilities, one feed mill in Italy and two retail stores in Greece. In the feed mill, the most abundant pyralid species was Ephestia kuehniella. Monitoring through pheromone-baited traps in this facility indicated that the application of the Exosex SPTab dispensers decreased the number of captures 2 months after the initial application. In the case of the facilities in Greece, the most abundant species was Plodia interpunctella. In these facilities there was a continuous monitoring of moth populations from January 2008 until February 2011, with pheromone-baited traps and Petri dishes with semolina, which served as oviposition traps. In both facilities, the presence of P. interpunctella males in the pheromone-baited traps was reduced after the placement of the Exosex SPTab dispensers, in comparison to captures for the same interval from the previous years. At the same time, the number of emerging individuals in the oviposition traps was notably reduced after the Exosex SPTab dispensers placement, in comparison to the previous monitoring interval. Our study documents that the auto-confusion system is an effective and reliable technique that can be used with success against stored-product Pyralidae, to retail stores and feed mills.