Development of pheromones for innovative management of Forest Bug, an emerging pest of orchards in England: FORBUG

Fruit-growing generates over £1 billion for the UK economy annually with apples and pears contributing over £250 million. Forest bug, _Pentatoma rufipes_, is an emerging pest in orchards, probably driven by the withdrawal of pesticides, and the effects of climate change. It causes fruit deformity and pitting which can result in up to 40% losses in productivity and waste due to unsaleable fruit. The pest is currently monitored by laborious scouting for the pest in orchard trees.

This project will aim to identify and synthesise species-specific pheromones for forest bug that will provide innovative approaches for monitoring and controlling this pest. The synthetic pheromones will be used to attract the pest into traps, enabling growers and agronomists to easily estimate numbers in orchards and predict fruit damage and yield losses. In addition, the development of synthetic pheromones will make it possible to develop non-pesticidal control options in the future, including mass trapping and mating disruption. These approaches will help reduce the need for conventional, chemical insecticides that disrupt integrated pest management programmes and potentially harm the environment. The project will help growers transition towards net zero emissions by avoiding unnecessary application of insecticides and reducing emissions involved in harvesting and storing unmarketable fruit.

The project is led by Agrovista UK Ltd which is a leading supplier of agronomy advice, seed, crop protection products and precision farming services, working in partnership with horticultural growers. Other commercial partners are Avalon Fresh Ltd, an agronomic and technical advice provider across the fruit value chain and Russell IPM, a UK specialist producer of innovative products for pest and disease management. They will collaborate with scientists from NIAB and NRI who have internationally recognised expertise in identification, synthesis and application of pheromones for monitoring and control of insect pests. English apple and pear growers will be key to the project, providing sites to study the pest, collect insect material and evaluate new products.

Because of the importance of the orchard industry to the UK economy, the outputs of this project will be particularly applicable here. However, forest bug is a pest in other European countries, so the results will have much wider impact with the potential for developing new skills and products outside the region.