Bio fortification through agronomic practices is good and safest option

Pheromone traps can be used for controlling  insect pest by monitoring the pest in combination with the chemical control, and controlling a pest by  mass trapping the insect pest by using a large number of pheromone traps per hectare and pheromone dispensers can be used for mating disruption of a certain pest.

Depending on your pest of choice, indeed pheromone traps can be used not only for monitoring purposes but also for management through mass trapping. eg Tuta absoluta can be managed by mass trapping, fruit flies etc... the list is endless.

It depend on pest to pest. For most of the pests, pheromone traps are useful only for population monitoring.

If the trap catches about 100% of the males.

Pheromone traps can be used to control certain pests, but it depends on their price and the effort involved in putting up the number of traps required for control as opposed to monitoring. Another consideration is the size of the area on which the traps are used. It is futile to use traps on a small farm surrounded by other farms growing the same crop and therefore attracting the same pest and where traps are not being used. It is therefore important that all or most farmers in the area use the traps.

First of all pheromone traps are used for pest monitoring activity and secondly usage of pheromone against respective pests could give satisfactory results.

To mass trapping we need to have the the trap and lure more effective possible. It´s a preventive methods, then we need to start previous planting if possible. Lower pest population is convenient; we need implement all tactics for complement the mass trapping and to prevent the installation of the pest in the crops (applied insecticides if necessary). The inmigration  of gravid females in the crops is a great problem. The mass trapping is more effective if we want to control pest that not flight long distances. What is your pest problem specifically?

Dear Milan,

Generally, pheromone traps have not been planned to efficiently control pests. Traders used to mention this but one should use so much traps and pheromone capsules that is not affordable.

I have discussed with many growers, and studied many cases but pheromone traps were not able to control pests. This controlling opportunity is only a decoration in marketing. Mainly because pheromones are specific and crops have a lot of key pests. Unfortunately.  

Possibly mass trapping is not effective with any pest. In my experience in Argentina with Tuta absoluta, I have a lot of time working with producers that every year use a mass trap system and by preserving the natural enemies can protect the white fly this crop, too. Professional assistance, selective insecticides and the use of other management measures are necessary for effective and economical crop protection. The growers do not use technologies that are not advantageous for their crops.

Thank you everyone for your views.

I also think that singly the pheromone traps can serve only for monitoring and not for effective control of pests. For making control and management of the pests several integrated management practices should be used.

Thank you Enrique Lobos, András Bozsik, Manickkam Jayakumar 

Pheromone traps are mainly species specific.  Many a times they are used in monitoring.  However they can also be used in mass trapping.  Sex pheromones are used to interfere with mating and one lowers the male population.  

They are not fully effective in the control of the pests more so when the population is high.

There is need to combine with other management strategies 

Thanks Ruth sir

Integrated pest management strategy will work.

Mass trapping of insect pests is done through pheromone traps. Basically, the traps and dispensers remain the same as that of monitoring, but the number of traps per unit area is increased to effectively trap more insects. In essence, monitoring is used for estimating the pest population along with resultant management decisions, whereas mass trapping is for total eradication of insect populations. Pheromone dosage in some exceptional cases is reduced to half with a view to reduce the cost of the technology. However, the number of traps and their placement is vital for efficient trapping.

Hello Milan

some useful references 1

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj34fOW96nXAhUBZFAKHeDKA2UQFggoMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedirect.com%2Ftopics%2Fagricultural-and-biological-sciences%2Fpheromone-trap&usg=AOvVaw1g52IP5VEpGeXy5pI-DYWI

2

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj34fOW96nXAhUBZFAKHeDKA2UQFggqMAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.banglajol.info%2Findex.php%2FIJARIT%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F14005%2F10038&usg=AOvVaw2F0lnbVPKbdSvdLUZLVdOP

3

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj34fOW96nXAhUBZFAKHeDKA2UQFgg5MAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mdpi.com%2F2075-4450%2F6%2F1%2F152%2Fhtm&usg=AOvVaw12Y6dO_ip9d6CHPSuDs3XE

4

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj34fOW96nXAhUBZFAKHeDKA2UQFghDMAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjenny.tfrec.wsu.edu%2Fopm%2FdisplaySpecies.php%3Fpn%3D-10&usg=AOvVaw3MpaklxyjU2uJ2tmQRNzbi

5

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj34fOW96nXAhUBZFAKHeDKA2UQFghJMAY&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.agriseta.co.za%2Fdownloads%2FLearningMaterial%2F116301_LG.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2NAV8jv3k0funs1DuGKYld

6

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj34fOW96nXAhUBZFAKHeDKA2UQFghSMAc&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.canna-uk.com%2Fhow_control_pests_and_diseases_biological_vs_chemical&usg=AOvVaw008kEfENyYpFP-aguQWwTq

7

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj34fOW96nXAhUBZFAKHeDKA2UQFghZMAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.entomology.wisc.edu%2Fmbcn%2Ffea102.html&usg=AOvVaw0nJbuggcD_UKonWCsrSS_g

8

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=11&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjdgNj9-KnXAhUKLVAKHcc1BAo4ChAWCCUwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.apo-tokyo.org%2Fpublications%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F5%2Fagr-15-npm.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0SStoJRBitrBfOH3ELon2m

9

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=12&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjdgNj9-KnXAhUKLVAKHcc1BAo4ChAWCCswAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fao.org%2F3%2Fa-i5475e.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1fdH9bEKf8r93opMbHpQHd

10

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=13&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjdgNj9-KnXAhUKLVAKHcc1BAo4ChAWCDAwAg&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.icac.org%2Fprojects%2FCommonFund%2FBollWorm%2Fcfc14_05_chapter_2.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1pgIKih-l3fmHhh4VbIAtr

11

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=14&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjdgNj9-KnXAhUKLVAKHcc1BAo4ChAWCDYwAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.steviashantanu.com%2Fphysical-methods-of-stevia-pest-control&usg=AOvVaw2EolLXSVOi_02D8Dw0OQdJ

12

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=15&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjdgNj9-KnXAhUKLVAKHcc1BAo4ChAWCDswBA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasonline.org%2Fpublications%2Fbeyond-discovery%2Finsect-pheromones.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3vyBaYjiz6Zv1RJnJ97tMI

13

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=16&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjdgNj9-KnXAhUKLVAKHcc1BAo4ChAWCEEwBQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fppqs.gov.in%2Fdivisions%2Fintegrated-pest-management%2Fcomponents-ipm&usg=AOvVaw0Dbc77_lrZs8cW90dgCzf4

14

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=17&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjdgNj9-KnXAhUKLVAKHcc1BAo4ChAWCEcwBg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philstar.com%2Fagriculture%2F292658%2Fuse-sex-urge-kill-onion-pests&usg=AOvVaw2fpGGbn9JNvDV4aOWHQpIh

15

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=18&ved=0ahUKEwjdgNj9-KnXAhUKLVAKHcc1BAo4ChAWCE0wBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fpermaculturenews.org%2F2016%2F02%2F09%2Fintegrated-pest-management-the-smart-solution%2F&usg=AOvVaw2B2idHFY-bbWJVZ77p8L9g

16

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=19&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjdgNj9-KnXAhUKLVAKHcc1BAo4ChAWCFMwCA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncipm.org.in%2FNCIPMPDFs%2FIPM%2520Packages%2520DPPQ%26S%2Fcotton.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2YnPu_PtNbA95erE7Lp8ew

17

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=20&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjdgNj9-KnXAhUKLVAKHcc1BAo4ChAWCFkwCQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F03235400500383693%3Fsrc%3Drecsys&usg=AOvVaw2bsmyNYKzTN7R0rkyZGmho

18

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=21&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiGo8rh-qnXAhUEKFAKHQQDAbs4FBAWCCUwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.extension.umn.edu%2Fpesticides%2Fpat%2Fppatman%2F18_3_manual%2F18_3_1_IPM.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1lZS-vFaUllmFXjwON_Wmj

19

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=22&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiGo8rh-qnXAhUEKFAKHQQDAbs4FBAWCCswAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fpesticidestewardship.org%2Fipm%2Fmonitoring%2F&usg=AOvVaw1wrjYc8YtsgFKur__f2m6x

20

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=23&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiGo8rh-qnXAhUEKFAKHQQDAbs4FBAWCDEwAg&url=https%3A%2F%2Fprojects.ncsu.edu%2Fcals%2Fcourse%2Fent425%2Ftext18%2Feconomics.html&usg=AOvVaw1j3kGQ8TJyLJXMqJD9XYGH

Thank you Laith Al-Ani sir.

Hi! There are some factors you should consider before you apply it. First, you only control adults, specially male. If you use pheromone tramps you have to put them in the border not across plants. If the pest population is not that big, you can use that strategy, but I recommend the use of baits to control also females. Likewise, you have to use another strategy to control the populations. If the larvae of the pest is the one that generates the damage, I would complement the pheromone tramp with the use of Biological control agents against the larvaes.