Liquid Baits with Oenococcus oeni Increase Captures of Drosophila suzukii

Gordana Ðurovi´c, Amani Alawamleh, Silvia Carlin, Giuseppe Maddalena, Raffaele Guzzon, Valerio Mazzoni, Daniel T. Dalton, Vaughn M. Walton, David M. Suckling, Ruth C. Butler, Sergio Angeli, Antonio De Cristofaro, and Gianfranco Anfora

INFORMATIVE ABSTRACT - As seen in the "Improving the attractiveness of Drosophila suzukii commercial baits - The use of bacterial culture study", spotted wing Drosophila suzukii is an invasive fruit fly that causes serious economic damage to many fruit crops. Researchers are searching new ways to face this insect without using dangerous insecticides for the environment. 

One of these is the combination of Droskidrink, a commercial bait, with the bacterium Oenococcus oeni, the primary responsible of the malolactic fermentation (the phenomenon that, following the alcoholic fermentation, brings the wine to maturity). The research, conducted in four years of laboratory and open-field trials in different berry crops, demonstrate that microbial volatile compounds produced by Oenococcus oeni are responsible for the increase in the attractiveness of the bait and could be later utilized for the development of a better trapping system. The new trap increased the number of male and especially female catches at low population densities in both domestic and wild environments.

The study has shown how the combination of Droskidrink and the bacterium Oenococcus oeni enhance the effects of attractive lures, and in doing so it redoubles the bait performance and minimize the risk of pest outbreaks in fruit orchards.