ACCTRA Rat: Development of long-lasting semiochemical rat lure.

ISCA plans to greatly improve on existing state of the art in rodent control by creating synthetic semiochemical lures that are significantly more attractive to rats, and that will last significantly longer in the field than current food-based lures. This SBIR Phase I project will follow up on the successful chemical-ecological preliminary work done, during which precise blends of five novel semiochemical components elicited specific behaviors in wild rats. These compounds have been identified through extensive lab work, and the IP has been protected by a patent. Now we propose to work developing long-lasting rat lure formulations using SPLAT and other control release matrices that will slowly and consistently release the rat semiochemical blend at optimal levels for long periods of time to elicit the desired behaviors on the target rat populations. These synthetic long lasting semiochemical rat lures will be developed and tested in Phase I, to be optimized and scaled up in Phase II.