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Damage assessment and
management of cucurbit fruit flies in spring-summer squash
R. Sapkota*, K. C. Dahal and R. B. Thapa
Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Chitwan, Nepal.
*Corresponding author.E-mail:
merekha_iaas@yahoo.com.
Accepted
13 January, 2010 |
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Cucurbit fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae
(Coquillett), is one of the most important pests of
cucurbits, and squash (Cucurbita pepo Lin.) is highly
prone to damage by this pest in Nepal. Because of the
difficulties associated with the control of this pest by
chemical insecticides, farmers experienced great losses in
cucurbits. Therefore, a
participatory field experiment was conducted under
farmer field conditions
to assess losses and to measure the efficacy of different
local and recommended management options to address the
problem of it in squash var. Bulam House (F1).
The experiment consisted of six different treatments
including untreated control, and there were four
replications. All the treatments were applied 40 days after
transplanting. Cucurbit
fruit fly preferred young and immature
fruits and
resulted in a loss of
9.7% female flowers. Out of total fruits set, more than
one-fourth (26%) fruits were dropped or damaged just after
set and 14.04% fruits were damaged during harvesting stage,
giving only 38.8% fruits of
marketable quality.
Application of locally made botanical pesticide
‘Jholmal’ was found superior in terms of fruit size (895 g),
quality and yield (62.8 t/ha), and reduced fruit fly
infestation in squash as
compared to other treatments. Although, ‘Jholmal’
preparation is easy and its application is effective for the
management of cucurbit fruit fly, it involves more labor
cost and frequent application is a tedious process. Future
efforts should be made to find the ways to reduce the cost
of its application to make vegetable cultivation more
profitable.
Key words: Bactrocera cucurbitae, Cucurbita pepo,
pesticide, melon fly, food baits. |
