Effective Laser Fly Control with Modulated UV-A Light Trapping for Mushroom Fungus Gnats (Diptera: Sciaridae)

Sumesh Nair, Yvonne Yuling Hu, Ching-Chieh Su, Ming-Jeh Chien and Shean-Jen Chen ()
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Sumesh Nair: College of Photonics, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Tainan 711, Taiwan
Yvonne Yuling Hu: Department of Photonics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan
Ching-Chieh Su: College of Photonics, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Tainan 711, Taiwan
Ming-Jeh Chien: Lohas Biotech Development Corporation, Taipei 114, Taiwan
Shean-Jen Chen: College of Photonics, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Tainan 711, Taiwan

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-10

Abstract: Fungus gnats (Sciaridae) are one of the most devastating pests on mushroom farms. Generally, they are controlled using relatively inefficient physical means, like sticky or pheromone traps, or with chemical pesticides. Here, we have proposed an integrated fungus gnat control system combining a UV-A LED source at 365 nm and a high-power laser diode at 445 nm. The 365 nm UV-A LED serves a light trap, since previous studies have concluded that fungus gnats show maximum attraction in the range of 365–390 nm. The UV-A LED is also modulated at different frequencies, and the response of the gnats corresponding to these different frequencies was observed. We utilized an Arduino Uno microcontroller to run the integrated device, and a BASLER USB camera was used to capture the images. Our experiments indicated that a frequency of 40 Hz is the optimal choice for attracting the gnats most rapidly. Within 20 s of exposure, the UV-A LED operated at 40 Hz was found to trap approximately 80% of the gnats. In a restricted trapping zone measuring 2.5 × 2.5 × 3 cm 3 , our integrated module, which includes a 40 Hz modulated UV-A LED and a laser, resulted in a survival rate of only 50% for the total number of gnats. This outcome was accomplished through periodic 200 ms long exposures, amounting to a total duration of 2 min for a group of 100 gnats.

Keywords: UV-A LED; laser fly control; light trap; fungus gnats; mushroom pests (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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