California and Oregon to evaluate the potential use of a new behavioral control system for Drosophila suzukii

The invasion of Drosophila suzukii, spotted wing drosophila, across Europe and US has led to increased insecticide applications to protect fruits from damage. Despite the overall protection, a crop safe keeping based only on pesticides is in conflict with the Integrated Pest Management program (IPM). Based on this assumption, the proposal of new strategies is highly necessary and could alleviate the negative effects that pesticides involve. A novel management tool, a food grade gum, was assessed against D. suzukii, and data collected over the past 4 years show an effective and promising mitigation. The food-grade gum formulation applied as dispensers at a rate of 50 per acre, was evaluated for two growing seasons, 2019 and 2020, in multiple berries crop in California and Oregon. Large-scale open field trial involved cherries, wine grape, blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry fruit varieties. Data collected evidence that this new behavioral control strategy has the real potential to be integrated in D. suzukii management program.