Oviposition Preference of Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) on Different Fruits under Laboratory Conditions
Oviposition Preference of Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) on Different Fruits under Laboratory Conditions
Ghulam Murtaza1*, Muhammad Ramzan2, Assad Ullah3, Abid Ali5, Ayesha Zafar3, Rukhsar Beanish3, Ahmad Ali4, Ghulam Mustafa4 and Mudassar Aslam4
ABSTRACT
Fruit fly, Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) is the most important pest in different regions of the world. Due to cosmopolitan in nature, it causes huge losses in various fruits and vegetables production throughout the globe. The current experiment was designed at Insect Rearing Laboratory, MNS. University of Agriculture, Multan to evaluate host and oviposition preference of Bactrocera zonata on different fruits under laboratory conditions. Infested fruits were collected from local fruits and vegetables market and brought to laboratory. Collected fruits and vegetables were placed in cages having sand in bottom for pupation. After the adult emergence fruit fly species were identified based on diagnostic morphological features and placed in separate cages. Different fruits such as guava, apple, fig, banana and citrus were exposed to Bactrocera zonata for oviposition. Fruits were placed in cage to assess the host preference for oviposition fruits having equal weight (500g). Fifty pairs of 11-12 days old adult of B. zonata were released in cage for 24h to determine their oviposition. The study resulted that maximum number of pupae (125.34) were formed in guava fruit exposed to B. zonata followed by banana (104.12), citrus (98.65), fig (84.34) and apple fruit (34.27). The adult emergence percentage was maximum in guava (79.26%) and banana (70.56%) host followed by citrus (65.44%), fig (57.61%) and apple fruit (53.51%) respectively. The study concluded that guava was the most preferred and suitable host for oviposition. Furthermore, the oviposition preference shifted towards the suitable host if a suitable host choice was available at breading site.
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