Mango resistance to fruit flies. I: Varietal selection and mechanisms of resistance.
Rossetto C. J., Bortoletto N., Carvalho C. R. L., Castro J. V. de, Walder J. M. M., Nogueira N. L., Arthur V., Lopes L. A.
Author Affiliation: Pólo Noroeste Paulista, APTA, Caixa Postal 61, 15.500-000, Votuporanga, SP, Brazil.
: 575-580
Abstract : A broad variability exists among mango cultivars for fruit fly resistance. There are cultivars with less than 10% infested fruits and others with almost 100% infestation. It was demonstrated that resistance to fruit flies was compatible with fruit quality and productivity and cultivar selection for resistance to fruit flies was viable and should be one of the objectives of all mango breeding programmes. The mechanisms of resistance were investigated. When fruits of resistant and susceptible mango cultivars were confined in a cage with adult fruit flies, the field behaviour of these cultivars was repeated and confirmed. Oviposition attempts of the female adult flies on resistant and susceptible cultivars observed under cage conditions, demonstrated that non-preference for oviposition was an important mechanism of resistance of mango to fruit flies and it was positively correlated with the number of pupae developed. When Ceratitis capitata ova were artificially inserted directly into the fruit pulp of a resistant cultivar, the resistance was broken. The results indicated that the main factors of resistance of mangoes to fruit flies were in the fruit peel and not in the fruit pulp.