pps proceeding - Abstract Preview
pps proceeding
Symposium: S14 - Special: Recycling and Sustainable Polymers
Oral Presentation
 
 

Biodegradable Polymer Pheromone Dispensers for Pest Control

Klassen Darius Oliver (1)*, Karthikeyan Adya (2)

(1) Polytechnique montreal - Quebec - Canada, (2) Polytechnique Montreal - Québec - Canada

The widespread use of pesticides in modern agriculture is a significant issue since most pesticides do not only affect the target species but also harm pollinators, natural predators of pests, various beneficial organisms in soil and water, and even humans. Pheromone release is a promising alternative method of pest control that can be combined with other techniques like physical exclusion, predator release, and intercropping as part of an integrated control strategy. The objective of this work is to develop reusable dispensers from a biodegradable polymer that can retain and release pheromones slowly over a period of several weeks. These dispensers are designed around the idea of pheromone physisorption on complex surface microstructures, making them unique from most other commercially available pheromone dispensers that absorb the pheromone within a polymer or trap it behind a membrane. The complex surface microstructures are created by a solvent-induced treatment and have been shown to store and release pheromone over a period of three weeks. This approach of pheromone physisorption facilitates the feasibility of re-using the dispensers by recharging with pheromone.