Comparative Biology of Fruit Flies Bactrocera Cucurbitae, and Bactrocera Zonata on Indian Round Gourd (Praecitrullus Fistulosus)

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 Peach fruit fly Bactrocera zonata are polyphagous pests of vegetables and fruits. We evaluated the effect of Indian round gourd (Praecitrullus jistulosus) on the biology of B. cucubitae and B. zonata under lab conditions. Results revealed that lowest incubation. O± 0.44) was observed on eggs of B. cucurbitae whereas; lowest hatching (33.3 ±7.63) was observed on eggs of B. zonata. Furthermore, reduced larval duration (5.6± 0.24) was observed when maggots of B. cucurbitae were provided with Indian round ground as compared with maggots of B. zonata (6.6± 0.24). Moreover, higher pupal recovery, and adult emergence were recorded on maggots of B. cucurbitae (79.33± 7.02, 75.33±3.51). In addition to number of deformed adults was higher when B. cucurbitae was provided with Indian round gourd as compared to B. zonata eggs. These findings could be helpful in defining more optimum conditions for the mass rearing of B. cucurbitae and B. zonata for use in Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), programmes for various orchards.