Bait Spray Applications Research Articles

Evaluation and development of some eco-friendly integrated pest management (IPM) modules in bitter gourd to minimize melon fruit fly (Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillett) infestation under lower Gangetic plain region of West Bengal, India

Field investigations were conducted on bitter gourd variety ‘Pusa Do Mausami’ to evaluate the efficacy of six suggestive integrated pest management (IPM) modules against melon fruit fly. Results of the experiments revealed that module M3 [summer ploughing, earthing up, removal and destruction of infested fruits, male annihilation by cue lure baited traps and application of bait spray] was found more effective in terms of lowest fruit infestation based on number basis (12.26%) and weight basis (10.47%) followed by module M2 which had 14.79 and 12.71% of fruit damage on number and weight basis, respectively during both the years compared to other evaluated modules. Significantly maximum marketable fruit yield was also recorded in the module M3 (105.68 q/ha) followed by M2 (97.10 q/ha). Module M3 recorded highest net profit (Rs. 1,38,256/ha) as well as benefit-cost ratio (18.40:1) followed by M2 (Rs. 1,12,072/ha and 14.08:1) during both the years. All the tested modules during the period of investigations did not produce any deleterious effect on the observed natural enemies (predatory coccinellids) in the field.

A Pesticide Residues Insight on Honeybees, Bumblebees and Olive Oil after Pesticidal Applications against the Olive Fruit Fly Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae).

Simple SummaryOlive cultivation is extensive throughout the Mediterranean region and essential for the rural economy, local heritage and the environment. To control the olive fruit fly, a major threat for this cultivation, pesticides, in the form of bait or cover sprays, are applied. These pesticide applications can potentially impact pollinators that forage in the nearby areas or live inside the olive orchards. Based on current practice, olive trees supply shadow, water, and still support some flowering plants at the period of the year with the highest temperature and minimum nectar and pollen flow, which can be beneficial for bees. In this study pesticide residues were monitored in honeybees, bumblebees, honey and olive oil, after placement of bee colonies in Greek olive orchards where applications to control the olive fruit fly took place. Variations of concentrations were evidenced, for the three active ingredients that were applied. In limited cases, concentrations in bees higher than the median lethal dose can possibly be attributed to bait dose rates or broad foraging of bees in nearby orchards with similar applications. Determined olive oil residues corroborated that those pesticides were applied in the olive orchards.In 2017 and 2018, a field survey was initiated on Greek olive orchards to investigate the attractiveness of bait spray applications and the impact of cover and bait sprays applied against the olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae), on the honeybee, Apis mellifera L. and bumblebees Bombus terrestris, by investigating the pesticides’ residual prevalence. Bee colonies were evenly distributed in three sites located on coastal areas of Western Crete and visited almost weekly between July and October. Samples collected, were analyzed using existing or developed-optimized liquid and gas chromatographic methods. In bee samples, concentrations varied from 0.0013 to 2.3 mg/kg for dimethoate, from 0.0013–0.059 mg/kg for its metabolite omethoate, and from 0.0035 to 0.63 mg/kg regarding the pyrethroids, β-cyfluthrin and λ-cyhalothrin. In one bee sample dimethoate concentration exceeded both acute oral and contact median lethal dose (LD50). Residue findings in bees, along with verified olive oil residues corroborated that those insecticides had been applied in the olive orchards and transferred to bees. The possibility of non-target effects of the bait sprays to the bees, as well as the impact of the contaminated olive to the bees are discussed.

Refreshing bait spots in an olive orchard for the control of Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Key to the success of the ground bait spray application method (‘attract and kill’) against Bactrocera oleae (Gmelin) is the long-term maintenance of the attractiveness of the trophic attractant as well as the toxicity of the active ingredient included in a bait spot. Large-scale field trials were conducted in olive orchards on Crete to estimate the quantity of alpha-cypermethrin applied as a bait spot on olive leaves as well as lab experiments to evaluate its residual effectiveness against the fly over time. Alpha-cypermethrin remained effective in olive tree canopies for at least 2 months (residues of alpha-cypermethrin on olive leaves were detected 7 days after the first and second bait spray applications and ranged from 5 to 7 and 16 to 19 mg/kg, respectively, as indicated by GC-MS/MS analysis, while the recorded adult mortality was >55% for at least 20 weeks following spray application). Moreover, additional protein-only sprays to specific parts of the olive canopy that had been previously sprayed with a bait spraying solution (alpha-cypermethrin plus hydrolysed protein at 75% w/w) significantly reduced olive fruit fly captures in treated plots compared to the captures recorded in plots with the classical bait spray. The percentages of live infestation of B. oleae were very low (<2%) and did not differ significantly between the two tested practices. The benefits of the reduced use of pesticides in the management of this pest are discussed.

Assessment of Attractiveness of Cassava as a Roosting Plant for the Melon Fly,Bactrocera cucurbitae, and the Oriental Fruit Fly,B. dorsalis

Application of bait spray to crop borders is a standard approach for suppression of melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera: Tephritidae) populations and may also be of value for suppression of oriental fruit fly, B. dorsalis (Hendel) populations. Establishment of preferred roosting hosts as crop borders may help to improve suppression of both fruit fly species by providing sites for bait spray applications. In an area-wide B. cucurbitae suppression trial, the question was raised as to whether cassava, Manihot esculenta Crantz (Euphorbiales: Euphorbiaceae), could be used as a B. cucurbitae roosting host. M. esculenta was of interest as a roosting host because, in contrast to many other identified preferred roosting hosts, it would also be a crop potentially increasing the productivity of the crop production system overall. As a short-lived and shrubby perennial, M. esculenta potentially constitutes a crop with more persistent roosting foliage than an annual crop such as corn, Zea mays L. (Cyperales: Poaceae), that has often been planted as a roosting host for B. cucurbitae control. Using protein-baited traps set amidst potted plants placed adjacent to a papaya Carica papaya L. (Violales: Caricaceae) orchard known to have established populations of B. cucurbitae and B. dorsalis, the effectiveness of M. esculenta as a roosting host was assessed by comparing its attractiveness to that of castor bean, Ricinus communis L (Malpighiales: Euphorbiaceae), previously identified as one of the most attractive roosting hosts for B. cucurbitae, and to corn, a crop which has been planted as a roosting host for help in B. cucurbitae control. The results showed that use of M. esculenta as a roosting host is comparable to use of R. communis by both B. cucurbitae and B. dorsalis. These results provide encouragement to incorporate M. esculenta on a farm as a trap crop (i.e. site for bait spray application). This has the advantage of having the trap crop be a crop on its own (as opposed to castor bean) and, among prospective crops that could be used as a trap crop, has foliage more persistent than an annual trap crop such as corn.

Targeted Trapping, Bait-Spray, Sanitation, Sterile-Male, and Parasitoid Releases in an Areawide Integrated Melon Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) Control Program in Hawaii

An areawide integrated pest management approach to melon fly Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae) suppression in Kamuela, Hawaii, was undertaken as part of a larger statewide program by the U.S. Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service (USDA–ARS), Areawide Initiative. After a survey on five islands, a grid of 1 trap/km 2 over 40 km 2 was established in Kamuela to locate areas of infestation. Then a targeted male trapping array was applied based on the distribution of host plants, and these were mapped using geographic information systems. Trap density was determined by monitoring existing traps and by increasing density where catch was high. Sanitation of crops, application of GF120 Naturalyte NF bait spray, Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), and augmentation of Psyttalia fletcheri parasitoids were also used. Pretreatment trapping in the farming area indicated a melon fly population peak of 11.94 ± 9.90 flies/trap/day (f/t/d) on 30 Oct. 2000. By 2003, the average catch of the grid traps over 16 wk was 0.016 ± 0.005 f/t/d per km 2 , a 99.87% reduction. Some resurgence of melon fly population to a 12-wk average of 0.191 ± 0.79 f/t/d per km 2 occurred when USDA discontinued SIT and parasitoid release and bait spray applications. Resurgence occurred primarily in the off-farm areas where growers had not adopted the three suppression techniques (sanitation, bait spraying, and male annihilation). Restoring USDA bait sprays application and briefly reapplying SIT returned the population to a mean of 0.033 ± 0.004 f/t/d per km 2 between 20 Jan. and 5 April 2004. Between August 2002 and August 2003, infestation in all fruits observed over 40 km 2 averaged 14.3 ± 2.9%. In 2002, with all suppression activities implemented, the infestation rate averaged 8.5 ± 4.8% in sampled fruit. That is an 83.2% reduction compared with the 2000–2001 mean infestation of 50.6 ± 4.9%.

Assessment of Attractiveness of Plants as Roosting Sites for the Melon Fly,Bactrocera cucurbitae, and Oriental Fruit Fly,Bactrocera dorsalis

The use of toxic protein bait sprays to suppress melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera: Tephritidae), populations typically involves application to vegetation bordering agricultural host areas where the adults seek shelter (“roost”). Although bait spray applications for suppression of oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), populations have traditionally been applied to the host crop, rather than to crop borders, roosting by oriental fruit flies in borders of some crop species, such as papaya, Carica papaya L. (Brassicales: Caricaceae), suggests that bait spray applications to crop borders could also help in suppression of B. dorsalis populations. In order to develop improved recommendations for application of bait sprays to border plants for suppression of melon fly and oriental fruit fly populations, the relative attractiveness of a range of plant species, in a vegetative (non-flowering) stage, was tested to wild melon fly and oriental fruit fly populations established in a papaya orchard in Hawaii. A total of 20 plant species were evaluated, divided into four categories: 1) border plants, including corn, Zea mays L. (Poales: Poaceae), windbreaks and broad-leaved ornamentals, 7 species; 2) weed plants commonly found in agricultural fields in Hawaii, 6 species; 3) host crop plants, 1 species- zucchini, Cucurbita pepo L. (Violales: Curcurbitaceae), and 4) locally grown fruit trees, 6 species. Plants were established in pots and placed in an open field, in clusters encircling protein bait traps, 20 m away from the papaya orchard. Castor bean, Ricinus communis L. (Euphorbiales: Euphorbiaceae), panax, Polyscias guilfoylei (Bull) Bailey (Apiales: Araliaceae), tiger's claw, Erythnna variegata L. (Fabales: Fabaceae), and guava, Psidium guajava L. (Myrtales: Myrtaceae) were identified as preferred roosting hosts for the melon fly, and tiger's claw, panax, castor bean, Canada cocklebur, Xanthium strumarium L. (Asterales: Asteraceae), Brazilian pepper tree, Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi (Sapindales: Anacardiaceae), ti plant, Cordyline terminate (L.) Chev.(Liliales: Liliaceae), guava and several Citrus spp. were identified as preferred roosting hosts for oriental fruit fly. Guava had not previously been identified as a preferred roosting host for melon fly. Other than for the use of panax as a roosting host, there has previously been little attention to roosting hosts for oriental fruit fly. Establishment of preferred roosting hosts as crop borders may help to improve suppression of both fruit fly species by providing sites for bait spray applications. Further research is needed to assess the use of vegetation bordering other host crops as roosting hosts, especially for oriental fruit fly.

HOW EFFECTIVE IS GF-120 FRUIT FLY BAIT SPRAY APPLIED TO BORDER AREA SORGHUM PLANTS FOR CONTROL OF MELON FLIES (DIPTERA: TEPHRITIDAE)?

Application of bait spray to non-host sorghum plants bordering host plants of melon flies, Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillet, is a common practice for melon fly control in Hawaii. In a field study conducted in 2003 in Hawaii, we first asked whether GF-120 Fruit Fly bait spray applied to sorghum plants that bordered only two (opposite) sides of a patch of cucumbers was as effective in protecting cucumbers against melon flies as similar spray applied to sorghum plants that bordered all four sides of a cucumber patch. Second, we asked whether mature melon fly females carrying a high egg load but deprived of protein during the previous 24 h were more responsive to bait spray than mature females having continuous access to protein. Color-marked melon fly females were released outside of patches of sorghum-bordered cucumbers. We found no significant differences between two-sided and four-sided patches of sorghum or between protein-deprived (for 24 h) and protein-fed (continuously) mature females in percentages of released females that found cucumbers in bait-sprayed plots. Moreover, none of these percentages was significantly less than percentages of released females that found cucumbers in unsprayed plots, indicating an overall ineffectiveness of bait spray application. During the 24 h after alighting on cucumbers, released females that were captured alive on cucumbers and placed in cups with cucumbers laid on average almost as many eggs (insignificantly fewer) when taken from bait-sprayed plots as when taken from unsprayed plots. An overriding factor may have been the presence of just a narrow swath of sorghum (arising from a single row of plants), which may have permitted females easy access to cucumbers and masked potential differences among treatments. Bait spray applied to broader swaths of sorghum may be more effective.

Effectiveness of GF-120 fruit fly bait spray applied to border area plants for control of melon flies (Diptera: Tephritidae).

In a field study in Hawaii, color-marked protein-deprived and protein-fed female melon flies, Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillett, were released within canopies of unsprayed sorghum plants (a nonhost of melon flies) outside of a border area of unsprayed or bait-sprayed sorghum plants or open space that surrounded cucumbers, a favored host of melon flies. Application of bait spray to sorghum or sugarcane surrounding host plants of melon flies is a common practice for melon fly control in Hawaii. GF-120 Fruit Fly Bait spray proved very effective in preventing protein-deprived females from alighting on cucumbers (23% of released females were observed dead on bait-sprayed sorghum; 0% were observed alive on cucumbers), but proved less effective in suppressing protein-fed females (14% of released females were observed dead on bait-sprayed sorghum; 11% were observed alive on cucumbers). No females were found dead on unsprayed sorghum. Compared with open space surrounding cucumbers, the presence of unsprayed sorghum as surrounding border area neither significantly enhanced nor significantly inhibited the ability of either type of female with respect to finding cucumbers. Greenhouse cage assays revealed that compared with droplets of water, droplets of GF-120 Fruit Fly Bait spray were highly attractive to protein-deprived females within 1 h of bait spray application to sorghum, but lost about half of their attractiveness within 5 h and all of it within 24 h under the dry greenhouse conditions used for maintaining baited-sprayed sorghum plants in these assays. Laboratory cup assays showed that bait spray droplets remained highly toxic to protein-deprived females 24 h after application, but lost nearly half of their toxicity within 4 d under laboratory exposure and nearly all of it after approximately 8 mm of rainfall. Combined findings suggest that application of GF-120 Fruit Fly Bait spray to nonhost plants for melon fly control either be made often enough to overcome loss of attractiveness of bait spray droplets to females or that bait spray be applied to nonhost plants that are themselves attractive to the females.

Behavioral responses of Ceratitis capitata flies to bait spray droplets and natural food

AbstractIn studies carried out on field‐caged non‐fruiting host trees, we examined effects of environmental and adult physiological and experiential state factors on responses of released Mediterranean fruit flies, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), to droplets of proteinaceous bait (PIB‐7) with or without 20% insecticide (malathion). We confirmed that fresh PIB‐7 is both attractive and phagostimulatory to proteindeprived medflies and found that presence of 20% malathion ultra low volume concentrate (ULVC) in PIB‐7 droplets does not significantly repel medflies from approaching droplets but does significantly deter feeding on them. A single relatively fresh deposit of bird feces, an important source of protein for medflies in natural environments, attracted several times more laboratory‐cultured and wild medflies than 20 droplets of 80% PIB‐7/20% malathion ULVC (about the average number of droplets per m2of plant canopy in aerial bait spray programs). Attraction to protein was significantly greater among wild medflies deprived of protein continuously from eclosion than among wild medflies that had recent (within 3 days) or continuous access to protein. Attraction to protein increased significantly with increasing age (2, 7 and 12 days) of protein‐deprived wild medflies. But we found no significant positive impact of recent brief experience of wild medflies with protein on degree of subsequent attraction to protein. In final experiments that mimicked the size, density and distribution of bait spray droplets on tree foliage typical for an aerial medfly control program, very few (4%) or no released protein‐deprived wild medflies found a bait droplet within the 15 min test period even though most found a single deposit of bird feces. We conclude that the effectiveness of aerial bait sprays against medflies might be enhanced substantially (and the proportion of infested area treated with bait spray reduced considerably) by (1) including synthetic equivalents of attractive components of bird feces in the spray mixture, and (2) adjusting spatial and temporal patterns of bait spray applications according to estimates of the composition and abundance of natural medfly food and the age structure of medfly adult populations in infested regions.