Biology of melon fruit fly, Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coquillett), reared on different fruit-based semi-synthetic diets

Abstract

Biology of melon fruit fly, Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coquillett) were studied by rearing maggots on four fruit-based semi-synthetic diets prepared from pumpkin (FSD-I), ridge gourd (FSD-II), bitter gourd (FSD-III) and bottle gourd (FSD-IV), along with a standard artificial diet, under laboratory conditions of 25±2°C and 75±5% RH. Larval and pupal development were fastest on FSD-I and FSD-IV (7.25 days larval duration; 8.00–8.50 days pupal period), whereas FSD-III recorded the longest developmental period (9.00 and 9.25 days, respectively). Pupal recovery (77.00%) and pupal weight (1.50 g/100 pupae) were highest on FSD-I, followed by FSD-IV (72.75% and 1.45 g/100 pupae). Adult emergence (83.00%) and flying ability (79.75%) were significantly superior on FSD-I, with a female-biased sex ratio (1:1.16) and the highest fecundity (35.75 eggs/female) and egg hatch (72.50%).