Evaluation of vegetable extracts as natural lures for female Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Abstract

The experiments on the attraction of female fruit flies Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera: Tephritidae) to the extracts of different vegetables as lures was conducted at the Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Peshawar. The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design. There were seven treatments including a control and each treatment was replicated three times. The lures were first tested in the field cages (controlled conditions) initially and then at Farmer’s field. The treatments included the combination of round gourd and bitter gourd in ratios of 20:80 (T1), 40:60 (T2), 60:40 (T3), 80:20 (T4), 00:100 (T5), 100:00 (T6), respectively, and a control (T7). Overall results revealed that extracts of bitter gourd (T6) and round gourd (T5) were significantly more attractive to female fruit flies than its other different combinations. These extracts reduced the infestation to 11.63% and 31.05% in experimental field and in farmer’s field, respectively. However, no significant difference in yield was found between farmer and experimental field. Thus extracts of bitter gourd as well as round gourd were found to be effective in attracting the females of B. cucurbitae and can be used for effective control of fruit fly in IPM programs.