The hail-nets against Codling moth and their influence on the behavior of moth species harmful to the pear tree in Emilia-Romagna (Italy)

Codling moth (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae) is the most severe universal pest of apple and pear. In all commercial orchards the fruit have to be protected until the harvest. The insecticides are the main control tool and in Emilia-Romagna (Italy) the number of treatments varies from 8 to 12 per year. The current available insecticides are more specific, less toxic to humans and beneficial than earlier ones, but an effective biological control has not been possible yet, so the main control alternatives are mostly based on PMD (Pheromone Mating Disruption) and CpGV (Cydia pomonella) Granulosis Virus) use, although the efficacy depends on the population level, number of generation and treated surface. The use of hail-nets recently proposed seems to give very interesting results against C. pomonella as injured fruits, so some trials were carried out to investigate the reason of this change in codling moth, and other species frequently presents on pome fruits orchards, behaviour.