Antennal and behavioral responses of grapevine moth Lobesia botrana females to volatiles from grapevine

Grapevine moth Lobesia botrana is the economically most important insect of grapevine Vitis vinifera in Europe. Flower buds, flowers, and green berries of Chardonnay grapevine are known to attract L. botrana for oviposition. The volatile compounds collected from these phenological stages were studied by gas chromatography - mass spectrometry, and the antennal response of L. botrana females to these headspace collections was recorded by gas chromatography - electroantennography. The compounds found in all phenological stages, which consistently elicited a strong antennal response, were pentadecane, nonanal, and alpha-farnesene. In a wind tunnel, gravid L. botrana females flew upwind to green grapes, as well as to headspace collections from these berries released by a piezoelectric sprayer release device. However, no females landed at the source of headspace volatiles, possibly due to inappropriate concentrations or biased ratios of compounds in the headspace extracts.