Management of fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) through fruit bagging in custard apple

Abstract

An investigation on "Assessment of hybrid custard apple (Annona spp.) genotypes for Fruit fly (B. dorsalis) infestation and control strategies"was carried out at AICRP, Arid Zone Fruit, MPKV, Rahuri during 2023. Seasonal incidence study of fruit fly (B. dorsalis) on twelve hybrid genotypes of custard apple, it was observed that the genotypes Hy-06, Hy-07, Hy-08, Hy-20, Hy-21, Hy-22, and Annona-7 showed no incidence of fruit fly maggots. Moderate infestation was found in the genotypes Balanagar and Phule Janaki, while NMKG, NMK-3, and Arka Sahan were significantly more susceptible to fruit fly attacks compared to the other genotypes. Among the seven treatments against fruit fly control on the NMKG genotype, the white wax-coated bag proved the most effective, showing no maggots in the fruit. It was at par to the polypropylene white bagand the brown-colored wax coated bag. Then next effective treatment was the brown paper bag which was on par with the methyl eugenol trap and karanj + neem oil spray showed higher levels of infestation compared to other treatments while untreated control had the highest infestation.