# Monitoring and Volatile Profiling of Fruit Crops as Host Plants of the Polyphagous Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Halyomorpha halys (Stål, 1855)

## TL;DR

This study identifies plant chemicals that attract the brown marmorated stink bug, aiming to develop eco-friendly pest control methods for fruit crops.

## Contribution

The study identifies specific volatile compounds that attract Halyomorpha halys, offering a basis for sustainable pest management.

## Key findings

- Hexanal and (E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene (DMNT) significantly attract H. halys in behavioral tests.
- Plant volatile profiles vary across species, but some compounds are common and effective attractants.
- Electroantennography confirmed strong antennal responses to identified compounds.

## Abstract

The invasive, polyphagous brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) can cause serious damage to various crops. Understanding how it selects its host plants is important for developing new pest management strategies. This study explored the role of plant volatile organic compounds in attracting the stink bug to certain plants. For this, monitoring of various fruit crop was conducted, and the volatiles of different hosts were collected and analyzed using advanced techniques to identify the chemicals involved. Common compounds across several plant species were identified and the stink bug responded strongly to them. In behavioural tests, the bug was attracted to single compounds and a mixture of specific volatiles. Plant protection strategies against this pest are limited. Using attractive scents could improve pest control methods and offer a more sustainable alternative to traditional chemical pesticides. This research aims to create more effective and environmentally friendly strategies for managing H. halys in horticulture and fruticulture.

Volatile organic substances (VOCs) emitted by plants play an important role in the recognition and selection of host plants by insects. For polyphagous insects with a broad host range, like the brown marmorated stink bug Halyomorpha halys, not much is known about the plant volatiles that influence host choice. In order to determine which odour stimuli could influence host selection, monitoring was carried out using pheromone traps in orchards with various host plants. The headspace of the phenological stages of plants on which H. halys occurred in large numbers was sampled and analysed with gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The volatile profiles of the different host plants varied significantly. Some compounds occurred in high relative proportions across all taxa. Those compounds were tested by H. halys using electroantennography. H. halys’ antennae responded significantly to all of the selected compounds. In a Y-tube olfactometer, H. halys showed a significant attraction to 1 µg hexanal, 100 µg (E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene (DMNT), and a volatile mixture. Due to the limited sustainable strategies for plant protection against this polyphagous insect, adding attractive plant volatiles to lures could improve the effectiveness of alternative volatile-based plant protection strategies, such as traps or capsules, or promote their development.