Coating Effect of Trimedlure and Methyl Eugenol by Some Polymers on Male Attraction of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly and Peach Fruit Fly Under Field Conditions

Abstract

The Egyptian fruits are attacked by two tepheritid pests; the peach fruit fly, Bactrocera zonata (Saunders), and the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedmann) causing considerable damage. The ultimate goal of this study is to investigate the response of Mediterranean and peach fruit flies males to trimedlure (TML) and methyl eugenol (ME) coated by different polymers. The impregnated cotton wicks of TML and ME were coated with different types of polymers including chitosan 0.5%, sodium alginate 0.5%, styrene acrylate 8.0% (St Acrylate) and Polyvinyl alcohol 0.5% (PVA 0.5%). The study was carried out by using Jackson trap at different orchards at Dakhlia and Menofia governorates. The attracting efficiency of TML and ME for attracting both of C. capitata and B. zonata males are improved when coating by using some polymers. The TML that coated by St Acrylate 8% polymer was significantly the highest one for attracting C. capitata males, while, the ME that coated by PVA 0.5% was significantly the highest one for capturing B. zonata males. The study suggests that attention should be paid to improve trapping quality by using the mentioned polymers.