ROLE OF PROTEIN AND FOOD BAITS IN ATTRACTION OF MELON FRUIT FLY ZEUGODACUS CUCURBITAE IN BITTER GOURD

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the attractiveness of various protein and food baits against cucurbit fruit fly (Zeugodacus cucurbitae) (Coquillet) in bitter gourd fields. Protein baits evaluated were soybean, yeast, casein and Proteinex baits. Food baits evaluated were banana, guava, tomato, pineapple and bitter gourd juice baits. The incidence of Z. cucurbitae was also observed. Among the evaluated protein baits, Proteinex bait trapped more i.e., 8.05/ trap/ week (female-4.94 and male-3.11), and showing 44.45% reduction incidence. Of the food baits assessed, tomato juice bait was the best, trapping 3.35 fruit flies/ trap/ week (female-2.09 and male-1.26) with 37.16% damage reduction. From the present investigation it can be concluded that among protein and food baits evaluated, Proteinex and tomato respectively with attractant materials @ 12 nos/ ha with weekly replenishment may effectively attract both sexes of adult fruit flies and thereby act as reliable management strategy against fruit flies in horticultural crops.