Submersion of ‘Francis’ Mango in Hot Water as a Quarantine Treatment for the West Indian Fruit Fly and the Caribbean Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae)1

Abstract

Heated water was tested as a quarantine treatment to control infestations of 1- to 6-d-old larvae of the West Indian fruit fly, Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart), and the Caribbean fruit fly, A. suspense (Loew), in mango, Mangifera indica L., ‘Francis.’ Submersion of infested fruit for 15-60 min at 46.1-46.7°C reduced the number of surviving pupae. Probit analysis of the data estimated submersion time needed to reach 99.9968% mortality (probit 9 security) as 58.0 and 44.3 min for A. obliqua and A. suspensa , respectively. A confirmatory test resulted in no survivors based on adult emergence when 147,993 A. obliqua larvae in 4,738 infested fruits were submerged in water at 46.1-46.7°C for 65 min, and no survivors when 102,509 A. suspensa larvae in 1,892 infested fruits were submerged in water at 46.1-46.7°C for 60 min. ‘Francis’ mangos submerged in water at 46.1-46.7 for 75 min and then stored at 25-27 for 8 d were not damaged. ‘Francis’ submerged in water at 46.1-46.7°C for 2 h and then refrigerated at 11.1°C for 7 d were not damaged. Percentage of acceptable mangos treated with hot water decreased as exposure time in water at 46.1-46.7°C increased to 4 h, when all mangos were damaged and were not acceptable following storage at 11.1°C for 7 d or more.