Field monitoring Sitophilus zeamais and Sitophilus oryzae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) using refuge and flight traps baited with synthetic pheromone and cracked wheat.

Flight traps with open vertical baffles and refuge traps in the form of rectangular cardboard boxes were used to catch Sitophilus zeamais and S. oryzae in Kenya. Traps baited with the aggregation pheromone (Sitophilure), and for the first time traps baited with pheromone and food bait (cracked wheat), were field tested. Both traps types were effective in capturing Sitophilus spp and gave higher weevil catch when baited with pheromone and cracked wheat combined than with pheromone or cracked wheat alone. The combination of pheromone and cracked wheat had an additive effect on trap catch and not a synergistic effect as reported in earlier laboratory trials. Different pheromone loadings of 0.5, 1 and 2 mg were tested. The catch of S. zeamais in flight traps rose significantly with increasing dosage. For refuge traps, the same effect was observed although the difference between 1 mg and 2 mg was not statistically significant. The trend was for increasing S. oryzae catch with dosage, although total catches were very much lower than those for S. zeamais, and differences did not prove statistically significant. Traps placed on the floor near infested maize cribs captured significantly more Sitophilus spp than those actually placed in the cribs. Adult Sitophilus captured were sexed and in both flight and refuge traps the sex ratio was biased in favour of females even though the sex ratio of weevils from infested maize cobs, which were the source of the captured weevils, was approximately even.