Objective   Thrips hawaiiensis is a significant loquat pest. This study aimed to determine the attractive effects of single-colored sticky traps, colored sticky traps + single semiochemical, and colored sticky traps + two semiochemicals on the capture of T. hawaiiensis and beneficial insects. These findings would provide a scientific basis for the monitoring and control of thrip populations, as well as the conservation of beneficial insects in loquat orchards.

  Method  A field experiment was conducted to compare the effectiveness of sticky traps of three different colors (yellow, blue, white) hung aboveground at varied heights (225cm, 150cm, 75 cm) in attracting the target insects. Then, at the optimal sticky trap color and hanging height, four groups of traps coated with a single seimchemical (methyl isonicotinate, MI; methyl nicotinate, MN; ethyl isonicotinate, EI; ethyl nicotinate, EN) on each trap, six groups of traps with two seimchemicals (MI+EN, MI+EI, MI+MN, MN+EN, MN+EI, EN+EI) on each trap, and one control group were placed in the orchard to compare the attractant effects of T. hawaiiensis and beneficial insects.

  Result  White sticky traps hung 150cm aboveground attracted the greatest number of thrips. The single methyl isonicotinate semiochemical (MIWT) was most effective in attracting T. hawaiiensis, and the numbers of female, male, and total T. hawaiiensis adult captured were 4.68 times, 8.45 times, and 5.56 times, respectively, that of the control. By comparing the trapping effects of the six two semiochemicals treatments and their corresponding single semiochemical on the capture of T. hawaiiensis adults showed that all of them had antagonistic effects on female adults. However, interestingly and importantly, the captured beneficial insects of the ten semiochemical treatments, such as hoverflies, parasitic wasps, lacewings, bees, and vespids, were all lower than those of the control, and the maximum number of hoverflies captured was only 2.73 thrips per trap per day, and the ratio of trapped beneficial insects : trapped thrips of all the treatments were lower than those of the control, with MIWT treatment showing the least (1:285.33).

  Conclusion  In the loquat flowering season, the combination of the white sticky trap and methyl isonicotinate had the strongest trapping effect on T. hawaiiensis, with the least effect on beneficial insects.