The Effect of Tillage on Population Density of Olive Fruit Fly (Bactrocera oleae Gmelin, 1790, Diptera:Tephritidae) in Çanakkale Province

In our country, which is under the influence of Mediterranean climate, olive is produced on 850.000 hectare area in Aegean, Marmara, Mediterranean and Southeast Anatolia regions. The control of olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae Gmel, Diptera:Tephritidae) is important in olive production. In the case of uncontrolled pest, 60% damage on yield is possible. Effect of integration of different control methods is important for the success of putting the pest under pressure. In this study, the effect of soil tillage on olive fruit fly population development and control is examined. The study was conducted on farmer owned 10–15 da sized olive orchards, with soil tillage and no–tillage conditions, in Çanakkale provincial center (Eren village), Ezine (Mecidiye village and Gökçebayır village) and Ayvacık (Kozlu village) in 2010 and 2011. The effect of soil tillage was tested by the number of adult olive fruit flies captured on pheromone traps and by the number infected olive fruits examined during harvest. In every orchard, 1 pheromone trap was placed on an olive tree and controlled once a week periodically. The number of captured adults was recorded. Olive fruit fly infection rate was calculated by counting the infected olive fruits under and on the trees during olive harvest. According to the results olive fruit fly adults has started flight from the beginning of August to mid–December and the highest population density was reached in October. In the first adult flight period, a high number of adults were captured in the traps in no–tillage orchards. The number of adults was found to be high in no–tillage orchards, even though the number of adults got closer in further periods. However this result was not reflected on infected olive fruit rates. It would be important to approach this research in more detail because of its importance in integrated control of the pest.