PAPER

UTILIZATION OF NATURAL ENEMIES, STERILE INSECT

TECHNIQUES, AND SEMIOCHEMISTRY IN PLANT PROTECTION

Lecturer: Dr. Ir. Rukmowati Brotodjojo, M.Agr

Arranged By:
134210012 Pratiwi Meiviani Mulyana
134210024 Yoseva Simanjuntak
134210031 Hana Novita Malau
134210034 Azeezah Mutiara
134210038 Meychen Br Sitepu

PA-A
AGROTECHNOLOGY STUDY PROGRAM
FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE
UPN “VETERAN” YOGYAKARTA
2023
 PREFACE

With all the praise and thanks to God the Almighty, who has given His love
and mercy so that a paper entitled "Utilization of Natural Enemies, Sterile Insect
Techniques, and Semiochemistry in Plant Protection" can we finish well. his
paper was prepared to fulfill one of the assignments in the pest sampling
techniques course.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank profusely to all those who
have helped us in completing this paper, to Dr. Ir. Mofit Eko Purwanto, MP as a
lecturer in pest sampling techniques for his support and motivation as well as to
friends who have contributed ideas and motivation in writing this paper.
We are fully aware that the many flaws in the writing of this paper, interms
of material, technical and presentation material. Therefore, we expectcriticism and
constructive suggestions to further refine the writing of this paper.Finally, we
hope that the writing of this paper can be useful for readers.

Yogyakarta, 03 Agustus 2023

The writer
 CAHPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A. Background
Integrated Pest Management is pest management that combines several
different management strategies into one system, such as cultivating healthy
plants, using biological agents and conserving natural enemies (Fuadi, 2012).
One way to take advantage of natural enemies of pests is by conserving
natural enemies with the aim of maintaining a balance between pests and
natural enemies (Sari et al., 2016). The existence of natural enemies in
agricultural ecosystems needs to be maintained by increasing the diversity of
plants that can act as shelter or refugia (Kurniawati and Martono, 2015).
One of the obstacles in efforts to increase the production of
agricultural and plantation crops is the problem of plant pests and diseases.
Besides reducing production, pest attacks can also reduce crop quality
(Sembel, 2010). The use of synthetic pesticides to control pests is a popular
way because of their fast working nature and high effectiveness. However,
this method is generally known to cause many problems for the environment
and humans (Untung, 2006).
Natural enemies have a very large contribution in the development of
environmentally sound agriculture because the power to control pests is
quite high and does not cause a negative impact on the environment. In
order for this effort to take place and be sustainable on an ongoing basis,
natural enemies need to be preserved (Rukmana and Sugandi 2002).
Availability of alternative hosts and other host feeds, such as nectar, pollen,
and honey dew determines the life of natural enemies. Wild plants outside
plantations need to be managed as well as possible, in addition to shelter, as
well as alternative host habitats, and food sources for natural enemies.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the background that has been described above, the problems
that can occur are:
1. How to use natural enemies, sterile insect techniques, and semiochemistry
in pest control?

C. Aim of The Papper

The aim of this papper is:
1. know the use of natural enemies, sterile insect techniques, and
semiochemistry in pest control
 CHAPTER II
CONTENT

A. Definition of Natural Enemy

Natural enemies are organisms that kill, reduce reproductive potential, or
reduce the number of other organisms. Each type of pest is naturally
controlled by a complex of natural enemies which include predators,
parasitoids and pest pathogens. Compared to the use of pesticides, the use of
natural enemies is natural, effective, cheap, and does not cause negative
impacts (Aliffah et al., 2020).
Control of natural enemies is to maintain population numbers within the
upper and lower limits of overall environmental activity. The use of natural
enemies in the concept of pest management and control so that it can reduce
the status of a pest in pest control is also one part of the concept of integrated
pest control. IPM is a perspective or concept of thinking about controlling
plant pest organisms (OPT) which is carried out by considering economic and
ecological aspects in order to achieve a sustainable agroecosystem
management system that is environmentally friendly.

B. Type of Natural Enemies

1. Predator
Predators are animals that prey on other animals. Predators kill
several individual prey during one life cycle. For example, Cheilomenes
sexmaculatus (F.), Menochilus sexmaculatus and Harmonis
sedecimnotata (F.).
2. Parasitoid
Parasitoids are parasitic insects, namely insects that parasitize other
larger insects, especially pest insects. The term parasitoid is widely used
by entomologists. Parasitoids can attack any insect instar although the
adult instar is the least parasitized. For example, Cotesia plutellae and
Diadega semiclausum.
3. Insect
Insect pathogens are organisms that can cause disease in insects.
Like plants, humans and other animals, insects and mites can become
infected with pathogens. Included in insect pathogens include bacteria,
fungi, viruses and nematodes. For example, Phthorimaea operculella
Granulosis Virus (BiaRIv-1), Steinernema spp. and Beauveria bassiana.
C. Development ff Biological Control of Pests in Vegetable Crops
Biological control practices using natural enemies that have been carried
out so far can be grouped into 3 categories, namely introduction,
augmentation and conservation. Although the three biological control
techniques differ in their objectives and techniques, in the implementation of
biological control they are often used together.
1. Introduction of Natural Enemies
The technique of introducing or importing natural enemies is often
referred to as a classic biological control practice. There are two
principles of biological control, namely importing (introducing) natural
enemies from abroad and secondly, importing natural enemies to control
target pests in an area where they did not exist before. In Indonesia,
parasitoid and predator introductions that have been carried out include
the introduction of D. semiclausum parasitoids which are known to thrive
in Pacet, Sindanglaya, Kopeng, Tawamangu and Singgalang Hills.
2. Augmentation
Augmentation is an effort to increase the effectiveness of existing
natural enemies, for example by conducting mass breeding and spreading
them back to nature. Augmentation is divided into two, namely
inoculation and inundation. Inoculation is the release of natural enemies
in limited quantities with the aim of increasing the population, while
inundation is the release of natural enemies in large numbers.
3. Conservation
 Conservation or preservation of natural enemies is absolutely
necessary if biological control is to work sustainably. Conservation
techniques aim to prevent actions that can reduce natural enemy
populations. Conservation involves manipulating the environment in a
way that favors the life of natural enemies, namely eliminating or at least
reducing detrimental factors, and/or providing the necessary factors.
Weeds and plants containing pollen can be used for the preservation of
parasitoids and predators as a source of food, shelter and breeding before
the main host is present.

D. Definition of Sterile Insect Technique

Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is an insect control technique by
sterilizing vector insects using ionizing radiation. This technique is one
method that is often used to control insect populations by modifying insect
physiology so that the eggs produced by females do not contain embryos. The
basic principle of SIT is very simple, namely killing insects with the insects
themselves (autocidal technique). SIT has been proven to be a safe, effective
and environmentally friendly method for suppressing, eliminating or
containing pest populations (Fitrianti et al., 2022).
The principle of this technique is to introduce sterility by raising the
target pest in large numbers, sterilizing it reproductively by irradiating it in
the laboratory using γ, n, or x rays, and releasing it to nature. When a sterile
male mates with a wild female, the female does not produce viable offspring.
With a constant rate of release of sterile insects, this results in an increasingly
rapid decline in the overall population over several generations. This
technique has been used successfully against a number of pest species such as
the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), the melon fly
Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquilett), the pink fruit worm Pectinophora
gossypiella (Saunders), the codling moth Cydia pomonella (L. ) and the tsetse
fly (Fitrianti et al., 2022).
E. Requirements for the Success of Sterile Insect Technique
La Chance (1979) put forward the conditions for the successful use of
sterile insect techniques as follows:
1. Ability to raise insects en masse at low cost.
2. Insect pests as control targets must be able to spread to natural insect
populations so that they can mate with fertile female insects and be able
to compete with natural male insects.
3. Irradiation must not have a negative influence on the mating behavior
and lifespan of male insects.
4. Female insects mate once, if female insects mate more than once, the
production of irradiated male sperm must be the same as that of natural
male sperm.
5. The pest insects to be controlled must be in a low population state. For
this reason, insect populations must be controlled using other techniques
so that they are low enough so that SIT is economical to use.
6. Control costs using sterile insect techniques must be lower than
conventional techniques.
7. If SIT requires higher costs than conventional techniques, it needs strong
justification, for example benefits from environmental protection and
health aspects.
8. The released sterile insects must not cause damage to crops, livestock or
cause disease in humans.

F. Sterile Insect Method

There are 2 types of Sterile Insect Technique methods , namely:
1. Mass breeding method
Sterilizing insects in the laboratory and releasing sterile insects into
the field.
2. Direct spaying method
 The first method explains that if sterile insects are released into an
insect population, then the ability of the population to reproduce will
decrease according to the ratio between the released sterile insects and
the insect population in the field. If the ratio between barren male insects
and normal male insects in the field is 1 : 1, the population's ability to
reproduce will decrease by 50%. If the ratio is 9: 1, then the population's
ability to reproduce will decrease by 90% and so on.
The second method, namely the method without releasing sterilized
insects. This method is carried out with the principle of direct spaying of
insects in the field by using sterilization of both males and females. With
this second method, two types of influence will be obtained on the
population's ability to reproduce. The two effects are the sterility of some
field insects as a direct result of thermosterility and the later effect of
insects that have become sterile on the remaining insects that are still
fertile. However, chemosterilanes are chemical compounds that are
mutagenic and carcinogenic in animals and humans, so this technology is
not recommended for pest control.

G. Definition of Semiochemicals
Semiochemicals are substances produced by plants or animals, or
synthetic analogues thereof, that evoke a behavioral response in an individual
of the producing species or other species (eg allomones, kairomones,
pheromones and synomones). Potential sources of kairomones include feces,
salivary glands, silk, body contamination, feeding secretions, and host
defense secretions.

H. Difference Between Pheromone and Allelochemicals

Pheromones are chemical substances that an organism releases into its
environment that allow the organism to communicate intraspecifically with
other individuals. Pheromones are useful in population monitoring and pest
control. In addition, pheromones are also useful in the process of
 reproduction and survival of an insect. Pheromones are produced by the
exocrine glands and belong to the group of semiochemicals (Semeon in Greek
means signal) or chemical signals. Pheromones consist of unsaturated fatty
acids. Low molecular weight chemical compounds such as esters, alcohols,
aldehydes, ketones, epoxides, lactones, hydrocarbons, terpenes and
sesquiterpenes are common components in pheromones. Pheromone synthesis
can occur throughout the life of an insect imago, but secretion only occurs at
certain times according to environmental conditions and insect physiology.
Allelochemicals are a group of secondary metabolite compounds
produced by plants which act as intermediaries in allelopathic interactions,
namely interactions between plants or between plants. Plants can use
allelochemicals to communicate with the surrounding environment, namely
through exudation of allelochemicals through plant roots and volatilization
from other plant parts. Every plant produces allelochemicals and its
production will increase if the plant is under biotic or abiotic stress (Kristiana,
2019)

I. Type of Pheromone
Pheromones are divided into two groups, namely primary pheromones
and releasers.
1. Primary pheromones can affect insect physiology whereas releasers
influence the behavior of insects of the same species. Primary pheromones
are commonly found in social insects and have not been studied much
because of the difficulty of isolating these pheromones.
2. Releaser pheromones are grouped by function or behavior exhibited by the
receiver, namely sex pheromones, aggregation pheromones, alarm
pheromones, trace follower pheromones and location marker pheromones
or distribution. Sex pheromones can be produced by males or females for
the mating process.
a. Aggregation pheromones are a type of pheromone released to
attract both male and female insects to groups and this type of
 pheromone can also increase the possibility of copulation within
the population.
b. Alarm pheromones are generally produced by social insects. Alarm
pheromones are issued as a warning to each other in times of threat
or danger and to form colony defenses. Trace pheromones are
found in social insects such as ants, termites and bees.
c. Site marker pheromones are secreted by certain insects to keep the
population density of individuals from exceeding the carrying
capacity. For example, the bark beetle as mentioned above.
d. Pheromones produced by an insect can have more than one
function, depending on the behavioral context and environment.
Pheromones with multifunctionality are referred to as parsimony
pheromones.

J. Type of Allelochemicals
Allelochemicals are divided into three categories:
1. Alomon
Alomon are allelochemicals secreted by an organism and benefit the
organism, while the recipient is harmed. For plants, this allomon can be
used as a defensive property from herbivorous insect attacks. Allomon can
also be released by insects to repel predators (Al-Ghany, 2019).
2. Kairomon
Kairomone is an allelochemical that is produced by a species and
benefits the receiving species. An example is kairomon produced by corn
plants, namely tricosan, which can attract Trichogramma evanescens so
that it can find its host, namely Helicoverpa zea eggs (Kristiana, 2019).
3. Sinomone
Sinomon are chemical compounds produced by organisms that can
cause physiological or behavioral responses that provide adaptive
advantages to both parties. For example, the scent of flowers attracts
pollinating insects (Kristiana, 2019).
K. Advantages and Disanvantage of Semiochemicals
Chemical communication plays an important and essential role in the
survival of insects, which enable them to appraise immediate environment
through modification of their behavior. Semiochemicals are organic
compounds used by insects to convey specific chemical messages that modify
behavior or physiology. The term semiochemical is derived from the Greek
word “semeon” which means sign or signal. Insects use semiochemicals to
locate mate, host, or food source, avoid competition, escape natural enemies,
and overcome natural defense systems of their hosts. Semiochemicals have
the advantage of being used to communicate message over relatively long
distances compared with other insect means of communication such as touch.
Semiochemicals have different molecular weights depending on carbon chain.
They are biologically active at very low concentration in the environment,
thus their chemical characterization is complicated. Semiochemicals are
considered safe and environmentally friendly molecules due to their natural
origin, low persistency in the environment, and species specificity, which
attribute much to their harmless effect on nontarget organisms. However,
there are some difficulties in the practical applications of semiochemicals in
pest management, and due to these challenges Semiochemically-based pest
methods are still at the beginning.
Expensive equipment items are needed for extraction and chemical
characterization of semiochemicals. These equipment items include solid-
phase microextraction (SPME), gas chromatography-electroantennography
(GC-EAG), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and nuclear
magnetic resonance (NMR). For the development of new synthetic
pheromone blend, a lot of work on electrophysiological and behavioral
bioassay is required. Semiochemicals are species-specific and harmless to the
environment. These advantages over conventional insect pest control agents
make semiochemicals promising tools for the management of agricultural
pests particularly under organic cropping systems.
L. Study Case of Semichemicals
The red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera:
Curculionidae), is an invasive and destructive insect pest of date palm
worldwide. RPW was first reported as a pest of coconut palm in India and
since the 1980s, it has invaded many countries around the globe. The weevil
is a relatively large insect exhibiting different color morphs and sexual
dimorphism where the male can be easily distinguished by the presence of
dense hairs on the rostrum which are absent in the female. The weevil is
extremely difficult to manage because all the life stages are concealed inside
the date palm tissues and are difficult to detect at an early stage of damage.
Several tactics including preventive and curative measures are adopted to
manage the weevil in date palm plantations. However, RPW is currently
managed in date palm groves through semiochemically based integrated
management using male-produced aggregation pheromone or (4-methyl-5-
nonanol) for both monitoring and mass trapping of adult weevils. This
pheromone was first identified and synthesized in the early 1990s and has
since proven a valuable tool for the management of RPW.
The aggregation pheromone acts synergistically with 4-methyl-5-
nonanone (ketone) and is more attractive to RPW when combined with
kairomones or volatiles emitted from the host to increase the efficiency of the
blend. The RPW pheromone (Ferrolure +) is commercially available (a
mixture of 4-methyl-5-nonanol and 4-methyl-5-nonanone with a ratio of 9:1)
released at 3–10 mg/day. The addition of ethyl acetate (released at 200–400
mg/day), fermenting mixture of dates and water increases trapping efficiency.
The pheromone/food-based trapping system is considered as an
environmentally friendly approach compared to the use of insecticides, which
is currently being applied for the control of RPW. Ferrugineol is attractive to
both sexes; however, several researchers reported that traps baited with this
attractant tend to capture significantly more females than males, usually with
a ratio of two females to one male. In addition, the captured weevils were
found to be young, gravid, and fertile, indicating significant impact of
trapping on the population reduction of the weevil in a given locality.
The advantages of semiochemicals over other methods of pest control are
that they are naturally occurring substances with species-specific character.
Semiochemicals, a major component of IPM strategy for the management of
red palm weevil in date palm, are environmentally friendly and have no
adverse effects on natural enemies and pollinators in the agro-ecosystem. The
aggregated nature of RPW distribution in the field, the long-life cycle, adult
longevity, reliance on aggregation pheromone and host kairomone, and the
relatively low population make the use of semiochemicals ideal for the
management of this notorious pest. To have an efficient semiochemical-based
management program for RPW, a highly optimized pheromone product is
needed in terms of attraction to lure the weevil directly to the trap (point
source). The weevil must successfully locate the trap, arrested and enter
inside; otherwise, it will infest the palm, which should be avoided when using
traps. The trap should be more attractive and arresting for the weevils than the
natural kairomone emitted by the date palm in the field. Optimizing the RPW
trapping system requires better understanding of semiochemical ecology of
the weevil in date palm plantation. Accordingly, the authors conducted a
series of laboratory and field experiments that expand for 7 years to
understand the chemical ecology and semiochemicals of red palm weevil in
the date palm plantations in order to optimize trapping efficiency for an
effective semiochemically based integrated management of this notorious
pest. A summary of the results of these experiments is given in the following
paragraphs (Faleiro, 2014).
Research methodology
All laboratory experiments were conducted in the Date Palm Research
Center of Excellence (latitude 25.16′6.9780″N, longitude 49.42′27.2772″E,
and altitude 153 m), King Faisal University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The
field experiments were conducted in highly infested date palm groves
selected based on data of trap catches obtained from the Directorate of
Agriculture, Al-Ahsa, Ministry of Agriculture, and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Weevils used in olfactometer assays were obtained from a colony of RPW,
which was established in the laboratory on bolts of the popular date palm
cultivar "Khalas" that represent more than 85% of the cultivated date palms in
Al-Ahsa oasis where the study has been carried out. To obtain virgin weevils,
pupae were collected from the reared colony, and each pupa was kept
separately in 20-ml-plastic jar with perforated lid. The jars were then kept in
an incubator at a temperature of 30°C and 70% RH until adult eclosion.
Emerged adult weevils were fed ad libitum on sugar cane for at least 3 days
before being used for the different experiments (Avolos, 2015).
 CHAPTER III
CONCLUSION

A. Conclusion
Pest control can be done by utilizing natural enemies, sterile insect
technique, and allelochemical compounds. Natural enemies are insects or other
arhropdas that in their lives actively seek, prey or parasitize and kill insect
pests. There are 3 types of natural enemies, namely predators, parasitoids and
insects. Biological control practices using natural enemies that have been
carried out so far can be grouped into 3 categories, namely introduction,
augmentation and conservation. Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is an insect
control technique by sterilizing vector insects using ionizing radiation. There
are 2 types of Sterile Insect Technique methods , namely mass breeding
method and direct spaying method. Semiochemicals are substances produced
by plants or animals, or synthetic analogues thereof, that evoke a behavioral
response in an individual of the producing species or other species.
Semiochemicals dibagi menjadi dua yaitu feromon dan alelokimia.
Pheromones are chemical substances that an organism releases into their
environment to communicate intraspecifically. Allelochemistry is a group of
secondary metabolite compounds that act as intermediaries in allelopathy
interactions, namely interactions between plants or between plants and
microorganisms.
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