Indexing

Population Monitoring and Larval Infestation of Fruit Flies in Important Cucurbit Crops in Kashmir

Author: Saima Hamid, Pathania S.S., Hussain B., Sofi M.A., Bano Parveena, Sushil Kumar and Tamjeeda Nisar

PDF Download PDF

Abstract

Population monitoring of fruit flies, Bactrocera spp. (Diptera: Tephritidae) was carried at Vegetable Experimental Farm, Faculty of Horticulture, SKUAST, Shalimar during 2021-22. Larval infestation on different cucurbit crops i.e. Bottlegourd, Bittergourd, Ridgegourd, Muskmelon and Cucumber was assessed from a month of crop transplanting till final harvest. Adult fruit flies were monitored from 28th to 43rd SW; the trap catch got initiated from 28th SW as 2.2 fruit flies adults per trap which gradually increased in subsequent weeks till it peaked to maximum catch of 23.6 adults per trap in 37th SW; and thereafter decreased in succeeding weeks. The larval count of Bactrocera cucurbitae, B. dorsalis, B. scutellaris in different cucurbit crops started from 2nd week of August (34th SW), and gradually increased in successive weeks till first fortnight of September (37th SW). In different cucurbit crops, the larval population was in the range of 16.66-22.55 larvae per fruit.

Keywords

Monitoring, Larval infestation, Bactrocera species, Cucurbits, Fruit harvest

Conclusion

After monitoring the cucurbits by using different lures, three species of Bactrocera were reported viz., Bactrocera cucurbitae (predominant), Bactrocera scutellaris and Bactrocera dorsalis. The larval population in Bottle gourd genotype/varieties, started from the ending July, and gradually increased in successive weeks. The mean fruit flies larval infestation for all the fruit harvests revealed the highest count of 16.66 larvae/fruit in genotype BOG-HYB-1. The larval population in different cucurbit germplasm revealed the highest larval count during the 37th and 39th SW. Among all the Cucurbit crops, Cucumber had maximum population count as 22.55 larvae/plant; and minimum population of 1.46 larvae/ plant in Bitter gourd.

References

-

How to cite this article

Saima Hamid, Pathania S.S., Hussain B., Sofi M.A., Bano Parveena, Sushil Kumar and Tamjeeda Nisar (2023). Population Monitoring and Larval Infestation of Fruit Flies in Important Cucurbit Crops in Kashmir. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(10): 68-72.