Background: In recent years, many studies have been carried out on the behavioural and electrophysiological responses of Cydia pomonella (L.) to host volatile emissions, to find alternative attractants to the sex pheromone for pest monitoring. These studies have focused on apple and pear, and very little has been done on walnut. In the present work, the diurnal and seasonal variation in walnut volatile emissions and the electrophysiological response of C. pomonella have been studied.
Results: Ninety compounds were detected in walnut emissions, mainly monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. The most abundant compound was beta-pinene, which, together with (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate, (E)-beta-ocimene, limonene, germacrene D, 1,8-cineole, sabinene, (E)-beta-farnesene, (E)-beta-caryophyllene, beta-myrcene and beta-phellandrene, constituted between 81.9 and 90.5% of the total chromatographic area. Differences between seasonal periods were significant for 39 compounds, and between daytimes for 14 compounds. Discernible and consistent EAD responses were detected to 11 walnut-origin compounds, and confirmed with synthetics to seven of them. Except for alloocimene, pinocarvone and caryophyllene oxide, all these compounds are also emitted by apple.
Conclusion: Walnut volatile emissions differ widely from apple ones, but both share many compounds that are EAD-active in C. pomonella. However, among EAD-active compounds there are three walnut-specific ones, which should be further tested in behavioural assays.