Abstract
The aqueous extracts of neem Azadirachta indica, eucalyptus Eucalyptus globulus, telakucha Coccinia indica, mahogany Swietenia macrophylla and joba Hibiscus rosa-sinensis leaves were used to evaluate their toxicity and physiological effects on fruit fly Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae) reared on ash gourd Benincasa hispida. The investigations were done with 1, 2 and 4% extracts and an untreated control. The toxicity of the extracts varied with plant species, concentration and exposure period. Among the treatments, neem revealed the most toxic effect as it showed the lowest LC50 and LC95 values as well as steepest slope of the concentration curve. The order of toxicity of the plants was neem> eucalyptus> telakucha> mehagony> joba. All the extracts reduced pupation, adult emergence, protein content in larval body and body weight of male and female flies. The highest reduction of protein, body weight of male and female flies, pupation and adult emergence were found with 4% neem extract. Among the tested extracts, 4% neem extract was found as the most effective botanical insecticide against B. CucurbitaeSAARC J. Agri., 15(2): 125-135 (2017)
Highlights
Ash gourd Benincasa hispida L. is one of the important cucurbitaceous vegetables in Bangladesh and other south-east Asian countries
Leaves of neem Azadirachta indica, eucalyptus Eucalyptus globulus, joba Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, telakucha Coccinia indica and mahogany Swietenia macrophylla were collected from the Bangabandhu Shaikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU) campus and transported to the entomology laboratory
Plants are sources of different alkaloids such as azadirachtin, azdirol, cymarin, digitoxin, kulactone, limocinin, salanin, toosendanin, xanthotoxin etc which are soluble in water and toxic to herbivore insects
Summary
Ash gourd Benincasa hispida L. is one of the important cucurbitaceous vegetables in Bangladesh and other south-east Asian countries. This vegetable is mostly infested with fruit fly, epilachna beetle and red pumpkin beetle. Among these pests, fruit fly Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillett (Diptera: Tephritidae) is the most destructive which causes damage to all the cucurbitaceous vegetables and its infestation level ranges from 20 to 100% depending on the cucurbitaceous species, climatic region and Accepted: 30.11.2017. The maggots feed on the flowers, stems and mostly inside the developing fruits. Rabindranath and Pillai (1986) reported that the fruit fly infestations deteriorate fruit quality and yield of ash gourd. Bagging of fruits in scaffold is a suitable method in suppressing fruit fly infestation but this method is laborious and expensive (Mukherjee et al, 2007; Amin et al, 2008)
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