Controlled Release of Gossyplure for Use in Control of Cotton Pink Bollworm
ABSTRACT PRE-MATING pheromone communication between male and female pink bollworm moths infesting cot-ton can be disrupted by permeating the insects' environ-ment with the synthetic sex pheromone, gossyplure. A theoretical model has been developed to predict the release of gossyplure from a gossyplure-filled fiber sealed at one end. The vapor pressure and diffusivity of gossyplure, key parameters in the above model, have been experimentaly determined for the temperature range of 15 to 50 °C. The predicted release of gossyplure is a complex function of temperature and half-power function of time. The model is capable of predicting gossyplure release at a constant temperature and in a diurnal-temperature-cycle environment similar to that encountered in a cotton field in Imperial Valley, CA dur-ing August. The gossyplure releases predicted by the model have been experimentally verified by measuring the displacement of liquid-meniscus level in gossyplure-filled fiber placed in an environmental simulation chamber.