The chestnut trees in Chisinau during the last 12 years have been affected by a pest called the chestnut moth. Interviewed by IPN, Leonid Voloshchuk, of the Institute of Genetics, Physiology and Plant Protection, said that the premature ageing of the chestnuts is caused by a species of flying inspects that lay hundreds of eggs under the leave’s epidermis. When the larvae come out, they eat the leave, which becomes dry.

In Moldova, the chestnut moth came through Romania, Hungary and Ukraine from Montenegro. In order to combat the moth, the Institute of Genetics, Physiology and Plant Protection devised an active biological substance, which is a pheromone-based trap. The sexual pheromone contained by this substance attracts all the males and the contamination can be stopped. The Moldovan scientists were practically the first in the world to create such a substance.

The pheromones and the toxic chemical substances cannot save the trees that were already affected by the moth. “The trees were to be treated when there were the first signals and when we, the Institute and the Academy of Sciences, made recommendations to the City Hall as to how to protect these trees and, in general, the green areas,” stated Leonid Voloshchuk.

In the municipality of Chisinau, practically all the chestnut trees were affected by the moth. The active substance to combat the moth, worked out by the Institute of Genetics, Physiology and Plant Protection, was registered by the National Center for Pesticide Homologation. For this substance to be used, the competent bodies must give their consent.