Effect of Natural and Artificial Diets on the Life History Parameters of Melon Fruit Fly Bactrocera Cucurbitae (Coquillett)

Abstract

Fruit flies are the noxious pests of fruits and vegetables throughout out the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The melon fruit fly Bactrocera cucurbitae is a polyphagous pest of vegetables and fruits. We evaluated the effect of natural bottle gourd, (Lagenaria siceraria) and artificial diets on the life history parameters of B. cucurbitae under lab conditions. Results revealed that shortest incubation period (3.0 ± 0.54) was observed on natural diet whereas; lowest hatching % (12.4 ± 2.11) was observed on blotting papers. However, reduced larval duration (5.6 ± 0.24) was observed when maggots were provided with bottle gourd as compared with artificial diet (6.6 ± 0.24). Furthermore, significantly (p < 0.05) higher pupal recovery, pupal duration and adult emergence were recorded on natural diet. In contrast, statistically higher pupal weight (p < 0.05) was observed on artificial diet. In addition, number of deformed adults was higher in natural diet as compared to artificial diet. These findings could be helpful in defining more optimum conditions for the mass rearing of B.cucurbitae for use in Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), programmes for various orchards.

Key words: Natural diet, Artificial diet, Incubation period of B. cucurbitae.