This award from the U.S.-Brazil Cooperative Science Program supports research in chemistry to be conducted by Drs. Jerrold Meinwald and Athula B. Attygalle of Cornell University and Drs. Gulab N. Jham and Evaldo F. Vilela of the Universidade Federal de Vicosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The project will focus on finding an economically viable and environmentally acceptable method of control for the control of the moth, Scrobipalpuloides absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), a serious pest on tomato Lycopersicon esculentum in Brazil and most other Latin American Countries. The project will use the collecting expertise of the Vicosa group to isolate the sex pheromone of the female S. absoluta, which is specific to the males of the same species. The Cornell group will fully characterize the active components of the pheromone and then synthesize quantities sufficient for use as baits in field trapping experiments in Brazil. The collecting and field testing capability of the Brazilian team coupled with the analytical and synthetic expertise of the US group combine to form a project not possible for either group working alone.
