The law of attraction: identification of Volatiles Organic Compound emitted by potatoes as wireworm attractants

Wireworms (Coleoptera: Elateridae) are common polyphagous soil pests of various crops, including maize and potatoes, inflicting severe economic damage (Parker and Howard 2001). Their management with pesticides is often not successful or sustainable and more research on biological alternatives is required. One of these alternatives could be the use of traps baited with attractive volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in association with a microbial control agent. In this paper, we describe the methodology followed to identify volatile organic molecules with potential as wireworms attractants. We previously observed that cut potato tubers place on the soil surface were highly attractive for wireworms. To identify the attractive cues released by potato tubers, we defined three specific objectives: 1) developing a behavioral assay suitable for the study of wireworm orientation behavior; 2) profiling VOCs released by potato tubers; 3) evaluating the role of the identified VOCs on wireworms foraging behavior.