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Crop Protection :: Pests of Cucurbits
Fruit flies: Bactrocera cucurbitae

Symptoms of damage:

  • Maggots feed on the pulp of the fruits
  • Oozing of resinous fluid from fruits
  • Distorted and malformed fruits
  • Premature dropping of fruits and also unfit for consumption
Infected fruit Split on fruit Gumosis on fruit
Brownish internal tissue Stunted fruit

Identification of pest:

  • Eggs: Laid singly in clusters on fruits
  • Larva: Dirty white apodous maggot
  • Pupa: Pupate in soil
Adult

Bactrocera cucurbitae: Hyaline wings with brown and grey spots at the apex
Bactrocera ciliates: Ferruginous brown body. Smaller than Bactrocera cucurbitae
B. zonata: Body yellowish with pale yellow band on 3rd tergite

Management:

  • Collect infested and fallen fruits and bum in deep pits.
  • In endemic areas, change the sowing date as the fly population is low in hot dry conditions and at its peak during rainy season
  • Expose the pupae by ploughing and turning over soil after harvest
  • Use ribbed gourd as trap crop and apply carbaryl 0.15% or malathion 0.1% on congregating adult flies on the undersurface of leaves.
  • Use attractants like citronella oil, eucalyptus oil, vinegar (acetic acid), and lactic acid to trap flies.
  • Use poison baiting in severe infestation
  • Mix methyl eugenol + malathion 50 EC at 1:1 ratio and keep 10 ml of the bait in polythene bags @ 25/ha.
  • Use fly trap
  • Keep 5 g of wet fishmeal in polythene bags (20 x 15cm) with six holes (3 mm dia)
  • Add 0.1 ml of dichlorvos.
  • Dichlorvos should be added every week and fishmeal renewed once in 20 days @ 5traps/ha.

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