Developing an Attractant for Lygus hesperus Derived from Post Plant Volatile Compounds

The primary goal of this project is to develop attractants for the alfalfa stink bug, Lygus hesperus, that represents a major pest in alfalfa seed production field. The specific objectives include 1) Isolate and identify the headspace volatiles of the non-alfalfa, wild-alfalfa and cultivated alfalfa host plants – damaged by Lygus, and undamaged -- by the headspace analysis by a. Dynamic headspace collection of the flowering plants (vegetative+floral components) onto Super-Q and eluting then in organic solvents b. Solid Phase Micro-Extraction analysis of the headspace, in tandem, with 1a 2) Behavioral responses of male and female Lygus hesperus to the volatile extracts from 1a. 3) Isolation and identification of biologically active volatile constituents from the extracts (1a) by employing male and female antennae as biological detectors; 4) Behavioral analysis of the compounds from obj. 3 and development of appropriate blends for potential field application.