Assessment of avoidable yield losses in bitter gourd due to melon fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett)

Abstract

The estimation of crop losses is essential for the scheduling of integrated management tactics as it helps to determine priorities on the basis of relative importance of pests. Cucurbits, the most economically nutritious crops, suffer a quiet high damage by fruit flies. Therefore, the current investigation was carried out to estimate the avoidable yield losses due to melon fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae in the bitter gourd variety ‘Pusa Do Mausami’. The study was conducted at Experimental Area, Department of Entomology, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during Kharif 2019. The results revealed significant differences in the yields of treated (Malathion 50% EC@ 2 ml + jaggery @ 3 g/litre water) and untreated plots. The average yield of bitter gourd in the untreated plots was 1.57 fold less (53.72 q/ha) compared with 84.24 q/ha for the treated plots. The calculated avoidable yield loss due to B. cucurbitae was 36.24 per cent in bitter gourd.