Diversity and management of fruit flies in cucurbits
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Date
2023-02-10
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CSK HPKV, Palampur
Abstract
The present investigations entitled “Diversity and management of fruit flies in
cucurbits” were undertaken during the year 2021-22 in Department of Entomology, CSK
Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur. Eight species of fruit flies viz.,
Zeugodacus tau (Walker), Z. cucurbitae (Coquillett), Z. scutellaris (Bezzi), Bactrocera
zonata (Saunders), B. dorsalis (Hendel), B. divenderi (White & Tsuruta), Dacus longicornis
(Wiedemann) and D. sphaeroidalis (Bezzi) were observed in Palam fruit fly traps at both the
location (Palampur and Sundernagar) during 2022. Among all the prevalent species, B.
divenderi was found to be the most dominant species followed by B. dorsalis, Z. tau, Z.
scutellaris, B. zonata and Z. cucurbitae. While in the infested cucurbit samples collected from
Palampur and Sundernagar; Z. tau was the predominant fruit fly species infesting all the
cucurbits. Relative abundance of species was more at Palampur compared to Sundernagar
except for B. zonata and D. sphaeroidalis. Likewise, species diversity (Simpson’s index) and
species evenness (Shannon index) was also higher at Palampur. Temperature was observed to
play a significant role in regulating population dynamics of most of prevailing species as
indicated by a positive correlation. The regression analysis showed that minimum temperature
was the most important factor affecting fruit fly population contributing 51 per cent at
Sundernagar, while maximum temperature alone contributed 81 per cent at Palampur. Protein
and yeast hydrolysate among protein baits; while cucumber and squash juice amongst
cucurbit juices were most attractive for fruit fly adults, which increased with concentration
and age of the flies being higher for females than males. Cucumber juice in combination with
protein hydrolysate + yeast hydrolysate (10 % conc.) was found to be the most attractive for
female fruit flies and could be a viable option as an integral component of fruit fly
management in combination with male annhilation technique. Higher staying time of adult
female flies in protein and yeast hydrolysate based combinations further validated the
significance of these baits in female specific fruit fly management programmes