Abstract

Melon fly, Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae) (Coquillett) is the major pest of cucumber, Cucumis sativus. We investigated the attractiveness of roosting plants with food bait spray to manage melon fly in cucumber under open field conditions. Cucumber was planted over two successive Kharif seasons together with maize (Zea mays), castor bean (Ricinus communis), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and Napier grass (Hybrid Co-3) as border plants. Border plants were sprayed weekly with an azadirachtin based food bait. The study revealed that castor bean was the most attractive roosting plant to melon fly followed by maize, sorghum, and Napier grass. The adult melon flies preferred to roost on the lower sides of the maize, sorghum, and Napier grass leaves and on the stems of castor bean. There were significant differences in the per cent fruit infestation of cucumber in all roosting host treatments except Napier grass compared to the control, with the lowest fruit infestation of 11.75% recorded in castor bean treatment. The highest cucumber yield 17.90 t/ha and the highest number of cucumber harvests 13.75 per season were observed in the castor bean treatment. Establishment of preferred roosting hosts could improve the bait application technique .

摘要

瓜蝇（Zeugodacus cucurbitae）（双翅目：Tephritidae）（Coquillett）是黄瓜Cucumis sativus的主要害虫。我们调查了在露地条件下使用食物诱饵喷雾来控制黄瓜中的甜瓜蝇的栖息植物的吸引力。黄瓜与玉米 ( Zea mays )、蓖麻 ( Ricinus Communis )、高粱 ( Sorghum bicolor )一起种植了连续两个Kharif季节) 和 Napier 草 (Hybrid Co-3) 作为边境植物。每周用印楝素为基础的食物诱饵喷洒边境植物。研究表明，蓖麻是对甜瓜蝇最有吸引力的栖息植物，其次是玉米、高粱和纳皮尔草。成年甜瓜蝇喜欢栖息在玉米、高粱和纳皮尔草叶的下侧以及蓖麻的茎上。与对照相比，除纳皮尔草外，所有栖息宿主处理的黄瓜果实侵染率均存在显着差异，蓖麻处理的果实侵染率最低，为 11.75%。在蓖麻处理中观察到最高的黄瓜产量 17.90 吨/公顷和最高的黄瓜每季收获数量 13.75。