Fruit fly trap catches versus weather parameters in muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.): A study

Abstract

Population dynamics of adult fruit flies was studied on muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) during rabi 2017- 18 and 2018-19 at College of Horticulture, Anantharajupeta, by using methyl eugenol and cue-lure traps. From the present study it can be concluded that total mean fly catch varied between 0 to 82 in 2018 and 5 to 101 during 2019. Two years pooled trap catch data indicated that, the peak fly catch was recorded from the last week of March to May (13-19 MSW) with maximum number of total flies (82,101) caught in 15th and 13th MSW during 2018 and 2019 respectively during which period the maximum temperature varied between 37-46oC and minimum temperature between 22-26oC which coincided with the peak fruit development and maturity periods of the crop. The trap catch showed significant positive correlation with maximum and minimum temperatures (r = 0.6435, 0.6555; p< 0.01) and negative significant correlation with morning relative humidity (r = -0.6243; p< 0.01). The abiotic factors viz., maximum and minimum temperatures, relative humidity, rainfall, wind velocity together influence to an extent of 65% variation (R2 = 0.650) in the fly catch.