Incidence and intensity of melon fly, Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coquillett) under different weather regimes of semi arid region of Rajasthan

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during crop seasons (Feb to May 2017) and (Feb to May 2018) at Rajasthan Agricultural Research Institute, Durgapura, Jaipur, India to study the influence of weather parameters on melon fly, Zeugodacus ( = Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett). The population of fruit fly first appeared on the crop during second fortnight of March (12th Standard Meteorological Week) during both (2017-18 and 2018-19) years. The peak level of fruit fly adults (92 per trap) was observed in last week of April (17th Standard Meteorological Week) during 2017 and in first week of May (18th Standard Meteorological Week) during 2018 (104 per trap). The weather parameters, maximum and minimum temperature had positive influence on population of fruit fly which was significant during 2017 and highly significant during 2018. The influence of relative humidity morning and evening and total rainfall was non-significant during both the years.