Evaluation of wooden block lure traps for mass trapping of fruit flies, Bactrocera spp. in mango orchards.
Mohinder Singh, Divender Gupta, Gupta P. R.
Author Affiliation: Department of Entomology, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry Nauni, Solan, 173 230 Himachal Pradesh, India.
International Journal of Farm Sciences 5 : 236-240
Abstract : A study was conducted in which wooden blocks (80×20×18 mm) made up of plyboard and locally available exotic Meranti wood (Shorea sp) impregnated with a mixture of ethanol, methyl eugenol and malathion (6:4:1) were evaluated from June 2007 to August 2008 for efficacy in mass trapping fruit flies in a mango orchard in low hills of Himachal Pradesh. Suspension traps containing 100 ml solution of methyl eugenol (0.1%) and malathion (0.05%) in plastic bottles were used for comparison. The plyboard blocks were found more effective than Meranti wood blocks in trapping the fruit flies. During 2007 at peak of fruit fly activity in mango orchard (24 to 31 standard weeks) significantly higher average number of adults (397.3/trap/week) was recorded in plyboard blocks compared to Meranti wood blocks (194.2/trap/week) and suspension traps (43.6/trap/week) the latter being significantly lesser than the former. The catch in Meranti wood blocks was at par with plyboard blocks only up to three weeks of installation and significantly higher than suspension traps only for five weeks of installation. The plyboard blocks were found effective even after one year of treatment resulting in higher catch than suspension traps. During the fruiting season of 2008 (23 to 34 standard week) the average number of fruit flies/trap/week was 570.1, 103.4 and 38.9 in freshly treated, one year old plyboard blocks and suspension traps respectively. These results showed that plyboard lure traps were highly effective and persistent in mass trapping of fruit flies in mango orchards.