LABORATORY AND FIELD EFFECTIVENESS OF TEPHRITID FRUIT FLY BAITS IN GUJARAT AND ELSEWHERE IN INDIA

Abstract

Three studies assessed the attraction of various food baits to Tephritid  fruit flies. In pairwise comparisons in laboratory cages of melon flies, fermentation  significantly enhanced the attractiveness of white jaggery but not of banana. “Black"  jaggery was significantly superior" to “white”. A study using traps in gourd fields found  that sugar sources such as papaya, jaggery, banana and guava performed well, meat  and fish interrnediately, and tucnrbit oviposition hosts least well. In a study in a mang0/  sapota orchard near Ganthvi. local robrrsta banana slices caught more flies than protein  hydrolysale, but this was not significant. These findings are compared with other bait  studies elsewhere in India, both in previous research and as part of the same project. It  is concluded that, overall, banana and jaggery, at 10% (masszvolume) inwater and in  isolation or combination (and with added fresh fntit when this is seasonally available  and inexpensive), are generally cost-effective baits for Tephritid management in India.