| Introducing a chemical attractant for German cockroach (Blattella germanica), a hope for sustainable safe urban pest control |
| Paper ID : 1312-3IICE (R1) |
| Authors: |
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Vahid Derakhsh Ahmadi * Department of Plant Protection, Agriculture college, Islamic Azad University, Arak Branch, Iran |
| Abstract: |
| The German cockroach, Blattella germanica, is found worldwide and is a major food-associated indoor pest. Cockroaches cause allergic disease and asthma, notably in children. They are currently controlled through sanitation and the use of insecticides and baits. Nevertheless, cockroaches are amazingly resilient and can become resistant to any insecticide. Chemicals such as carbamate, organophosphate, chlorinated hydrocarbon and pyrethroid insecticides are currently applied for cockroach control. These compounds often pose threats to both humans and the environment. Bait-and-trap method is generally accepted as a suitable alternative compared with frequent applications of insecticides. Current baits for cockroaches include pheromone, however, they are not specific for cockroaches and lose their effectiveness as roaches learn to refuse the attractants employed. Dimethyl nonacosane a major sex pheromone of roaches can be effective to capture male insects. It is produced from citronellyl iodide and hexadec-1-yne giving acetylene which is reduced to epoxide. The coupling of this epoxide with Grignard reagent successfully gave sex pheromone after Markovnikov's hydration and oxidation reaction. Samples of the attractant were made by pouring 2 ml of the product into an eppendorf tube. Then an experiment was conducted in 5 restaurants by installing 1 tube, stuck to the center of a yellow sticky card, in the kitchen of each restaurant in Tehran. Another sticky card without tube (2 m distance) was considered as control. Tube caps were removed at night and they were collect next morning. The observation on stuck roaches to the sticky cards showed promising results of the new chemical in attracting significantly more roaches compared to control. Experiments are going on to commercialize the product. |
| Keywords: |
| German cockroach, Pheromone, Attractant, Tehran, Urban pest |
| Status : Paper Accepted (Poster Presentation) |
