Journal of Taiwan Agricultural Research

Author:Kun-Yaw Ho*, Shi-Cheng Hung, Chien-Chung Chen and Yung-Hsiung Cheng

Abstract:

    The Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), is the major insect pest of citrus crops.  This study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Spinosad bait for the control of the Oriental fruit fly.  The number of flies captured by the yellow sticky trap with netted banana from the 0.02% Spinosad-treated plots was 0.5 / 0.3 (♀ / ♂) which was significantly lower than that of the control plots of 3.6 / 1.6 (♀ / ♂).  Based on the fluctuation of the number of flies captured, it indicated that there were a few flies continually invading the orchard, averaging 3.6 females per week.  Using the number of male flies captured by methyl eugenol traps as a reference, it further indicated that the invading flies were effectively attracted and gradually killed by Spinosad baits.  This study showed that application of Spinosad baits at the early fruit ripening stage could kill the female flies before eggs were deposited, thereby, reduced the fruit damage rates as low as  0.02~0.05%.  In addition, results from the investigation of the dropped fruits showed that the total damage rate from the fruit fly infestations was only 3.5% (including fruits damaged by diseases resulting from fruit fly ovipositions) which was much lower than the damage rates of 30~50% recorded in the past years.

Key words:Spinosad bait, Citrus, Attractant, Bactrocera dorsalis

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