Efficacy of Abiotic Factors on Population Dynamics of Fruit Fly (Bactrocera dorsalis) Larva and Pupa

Abstract

The fruit fly B. dorsalis is a serious fruit and vegetable pest in South-East Asia. It causes 25-100% loss of horticultural crops by laying eggs under the skin of mangoes, peaches, guava, apricots and figs. Abiotic factors are ecological factors including temperature, humidity, and rainfall. These factors adversely affect the population dynamics of fruit fly larvae and pupae. Plants were randomly selected and installed with methyleugenol pheromone traps to study the population dynamics of Bactrocera dorsalis and correlate with abiotic factors. The fruits that had fallen were retrieved after a gap of 7-8 days. The contaminated fruit samples were exposed in the lab after a 9-10 days incubation period, and the larvae were counted. To ascertain the relationship between the larval and pupal populations of fruit flies in citrus, the one-way ANOVA technique was used. Bactrocera dorsalis larvae and pupae populations were the greatest at high temperatures and low humidity.