Cinnamyl derivatives and monoterpenoids as nonspecific ovipositional deterrents of the onion fly

Abstract

Laboratory dose-response choice tests and discriminate-dosage bioassays revealed wide variation in the effectiveness of cinnamyl, cinnamoyl, monoterpene, and phenethyl alcohol derivatives as ovipositional deterrents toDelia antiqua (Meigen), the onion fly. (E)-Cinnamic acids were not detectably deterrent. When formulated in particles of polyethylene glycol, (E)-cinnamaldehyde had a BR90 (concentration eliciting 90% deterrency) of 1.0% and (E)-4-methoxycinnamaldehyde had a BR90 of 0.38%. Among nine monoterpenoids tested,p-cymene was inactive, citronellal had a BR90 of 3.7%, and terpinene-4-ol had a BR90 of 0.46%. Para-substituted phenethyl alcohols gave increasing deterrence in the order: -NO2, CH3O-, -Cl, -CH3, -H. Wide varieties of structures were deterrent: C-8 to C-13, intermediate in polarity, and possessing either oxygen-containing or nitrile functional groups. The air concentration of (E)-cinnamaldehyde at its BR90 was 1.7 ng/ml. This relatively high concentration, the diversity in deterrent structures, and the lack of differences in deterrency among positional and optical isomers suggest that ovipositional deterrency in onion flies is mediated by receptors broadly tuned for detecting phenylpropenoid, phenolic, monoterpenoid, and perhaps other classes of allelochemicals.