Low cost bottle traps and lures effective for management of fruit flies in cucurbitaceous vegetables

Cucurbit fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett), is one of the most important pests of cucurbits in Bihar. They cause tremendous economic losses and making fruits unfit for consumption. The actual damage is virtually done by the maggots which are internal feeder and safe from insecticides applications as the eggs are laid into the fruit tissue. Therefore, with the difficulties associated with the control of this pest by chemical insecticides, farmers experienced great losses in cucurbits. However, the adult longevity is associated with frequent feeding, enables them to be attracted and killed by traps. Thus, a field experiment was conducted to understand the efficacy of various traps against fruit flies in cucumber. The experiment was conducted for two years (2013-14 and 2014-15). Based on experimental finding low cost cuelure baited pheromone traps provided (9.76%) superior control against fruit flies in cucumber. The next best treatment was NSKE + banana poison bait (11.61%) followed by Nimbicidine + banana poison bait traps (13.64%).