Pest status, bio-ecology and management of the false codling moth, Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) and its implication for international trade
Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Abstract
The false codling moth (FCM), Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is an
insect pest which represents an important threat to the production and marketing of a
wide range of agricultural crops in the African-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) countries. The
FCM reduces not only the yield and quality of the crop but also as a quarantine insect
pest, restricts the trade of susceptible agricultural produce on the international market. In add ition, little research has been conducted in the ACP countries on the bio-ecology and sustain able management of this pest, especially on vegetables for export. Thus, action-oriented
research aimed at understanding the bio-ecology of this important pest is essential to achieve
effective management. Various management interventions against this pest have been used in
some parts of the world, especially in South Africa on citrus. Currently, farm sanitation is
regarded as the key management strategy. Exploring and improving on other interventions
such as Sterile Insect Technique, monitoring and mass trapping of male moths, augmentative
biological control, use of bio-pesticides, protected cultivation and cold treatment may help to
mitigate the expansion of FCM into other countries, especially in the European and
Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization region where it has become a regulated insect
pest since 2014. This review discussed the bio-ecology of FCM and highlighted some of the
challenges and opportunities for its effective management and its implication for international
trade, especially the export of chillies from the ACP countries into the European Union market which requires strict phytosanitary regulations
Description
Research Article
Keywords
False codling moth, integrated pest management, quarantine pest, Tortricid moth