The chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a very important crop at international level, due to its high nutritional value, since it contains a range of 17-25% crude protein, iron and calcium (^{Marrero et al., 2016}). The main producing countries are Turkey, India, Pakistan and México contributing almost 90% of world production (7 million tonnes) (^{Padilla et al., 2008}). The main producing region of chickpea in Mexico, is located in the northwest of the country (Sinaloa, Sonora and Baja California Sur), this region is characterized by producing chickpea with export quality (large caliber, light color, rough and with good quality of cooking) (^{Ortega et al., 2016}). In optimum conditions, this species has a potential of 2.5 to 3.5 t ha^-1, which is often not reached due to the productive instability of the available varieties, increasing due to alternative factors such as: climate (temperature, precipitation, humidity), pests and diseases (^{Padilla et al., 2008}).

Among insects of economic importance in agriculture are larvae of the order lepidoptera, representing a major challenge because of their great capacity for defoliation and adaptation to different crops (^{Capinera, 2008}). The cultivation of chickpea is not exempt from being affected by Lepidoptera, among them; Heliothis spp., Spodoptera spp. and leaf dipterens such as Liriomyza spp., as well as by storage pests, the damages caused by these insects worldwide, fluctuate between 10-80%, if the pest occurs in the periods of flowering to formation of capsules, they can affect up to 0.5 t ha^-1 (^{Reed et al., 1987}).

Currently, due to the failures of chemical control, environmental contamination, toxicity in the food itself, and evolution of resistance in the pest species, it is detrimental to the sustainability of the production process (^{Elzen and Hardee, 2003}). integrated pest management program (MIP, for its acronym in Spanish) is the most appropriate strategy for crop protection. The MIP combines all techniques that regulate pest populations, does not rule out the use of insecticides, but emphasizes their correct use by making applications when the action threshold has been exceeded. One of the most important factors in this program is the sampling of pests, to make decisions regarding the application of insecticides and control of the pest.

In many species of insects chemical communication by means of pheromones plays a very important role since they use it as orientation signs, mating site, oviposition site and as alarm system, usually the female is the one who emits these signals to attract the males, although it has been detected that some males also emit this type of compounds (^{González et al., 2012}). For this reason, semiochemicals (sex pheromones and food attractants) are currently used as a tool for pest detection (^{Ando and Inomata, 2004}), since the application of pheromones in pest control is aimed at the detection, monitoring of populations and direct control methods (^{Campion and Nesbitt, 1981}).

In addition, the use of semiochemicals has the advantage of not leaving toxic waste, affecting the target species and requiring small amounts (^{González et al., 2012}), there are several materials attractive to insects that are used for this purpose, such as based on liquid hydrolyzed proteins, fermented sugar solutions, fruit juices and vinegar, to capture females of different species of fruit flies (Haynes and ^{Millar, 1998}). The present study aimed to evaluate the ability of traps to attract food and sexual attractants to catch Spodoptera exigua moths in chickpea culture.

The study was carried out in “La Costa de Hermosillo”, northwest of the state of Sonora, during the years 2015 and 2016. The preliminary work of 2015 was established at the Experimental Field of the Hermosillo Coast (CECH-INIFAP), in a place surrounded by native vegetation and without presence of chickpea cultivation comprising the months of october to november. The second year the experiment was carried out in a commercial field of chickpea in the months of april to january. The treatments consisted in evaluating food attractants and sex-specific pheromone for Worm (Spodoptera exigua) (BAW^©), in total were six treatments: commercial food attractant (Noctovi^©) (AA-CN), food attractant yeast + sugar (AA- LA), food attractant yeast (AA-L), attractant pollen from chelite (AA-PQ), sex pheromone Spodoptera exigua (FS-GS) and unattractive control or sex pheromone (Test). In 2015 the six treatments were evaluated, while in 2016 the four best treatments were selected, discarding yeast food attractants and chelating pollen.

The food attractants were placed in a plastic bottle of 20 liters capacity, to which two windows of 10*10 cm were made, and in the bottom was added a solution of water with soap where they caught the moths that were attracted to each treatment. The sexual pheromone of S. exigua was placed in the inner and superior part of the bottle supported with a filament of iron or wire.

The commercial attractant solution was prepared by adding 3 L of formulated Noctovi to 7 L of water, the remainder of the attractants were prepared by adding 3 g of yeast and 150 g of sugar to 2 L of water. A completely randomized experimental design with three replicates was used. The variables evaluated were S. exigua moth populations during the whole study period, the data were analyzed with the statistical package (^{SAS, 1996}).

The preliminary study carried out in 2015 indicates that during the period october-november there was activity of S. exigua moths, observing three population peaks: October 16, october 28 and mostly november 03. The treatments recorded more catches and were statistically different were AA-CN and AA-LA, followed lesser density FS-GS, other treatments showed a low catch, while the AA-PQ treatment not recorded catches (Figure 1).

Figure 1 Evaluation in the year 2015 of food and sexual attractants of S. exigua. a) population dynamics; and b) accumulated population.  

Pests cause significant losses each year for agriculture and therefore the search and establishment of new control methods that allow the development of sustainable agriculture (^{Vacas, 2011}) is important. The sexual attraction pheromones have been documented in various insect orders, including Orthoptera (Blattodea), Heteroptera (Hemiptera and Homoptera), Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera and Hymenoptera (^{Hardie and Minks, 1999}). It is recognized that 60% of pheromones sexes identified in insects belong to the order lepidoptera and are produced mainly by females.

In the evaluation carried out in 2016, only four treatments were used, the experiment showed that there was capture of adults of S. exigua during the whole cycle, the highest population density was registered in the period from January 16 to March 1, registering a maximum of 65 adults in the treatment of AA-CN and 60 adults in the treatment of FS-GS (Figure 2), these treatments being statistically different from the control and treatment AA-LA. The first treatments had a cumulative of more than 300 moths throughout the cycle, unlike 113 in AA-LA and 0.3 in the control (Figure 2).

Figure 2 Population dynamics of adults of S. exigua in the evaluation of food and sexual attractants of chickpea in 2016 (a). Cumulative population of S. exigua adults in evaluation of food and sexual attractants of chickpea in 2016 (b).  

Noctovi, is a food attractant of adult moths, composed of volatiles of plants and small trees. The specific male sex attractant pheromone for S. exigua; has as active ingredients the chemical compounds: (Z) -9-tetradecen-1-ol and (Z, E) -9,12-tetradecadien-1-yl acetate. BioLure BAW (Beet Armyworm Lure) and is used in monitoring and mass trapping of the pest.

Traps primed with attractants or sex pheromones are widely used in different integrated pest management programs, their use intensified through the discovery, isolation and sisting of compounds. These results show that commercial attractant and sexual pheromone can be used as primers for the capture of adults of S. exigua, which helps to determine when and where the pest is present, estimating its population dynamics and based on that information set the timing. precise application (^{González et al., 2012}).

In addition, the use of these traps helps to decrease the adult population, since for each female caught, the authors mention that oviposition of 300 to 600 eggs is avoided, while the use of pheromones helps to detect the early presence of males, avoiding thus mating and disrupting their reproduction (^{Garza and Terán, 2007}).