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INSECTICIDAL EFFICACY ON BACTROCERA CUCURBITAE (COQUILLETT) INFESTATION IN BITTER GOURD

Qaisar Hamd, Mir Afzal Shah*, Asad Ullah, Urooj Shah, Ehtisham Ul Haq, Shahid Yar, Abdur Rahman, Muhammad Salman, Arsalan Ali, Muhammad Hassan, Shahbaz Khan

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Abstract

The study was performed at the Agriculture Research Institute Tarnab, Peshawar, Pakistan during 2018 to assess the effectiveness of selected insecticides against the melon fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae, in bitter gourd crops. The results revealed that Deltamethrin 2.8 EC + jaggery bait exhibited the highest efficacy. This treatment resulted in minimal fruit infestation rates (13.13%, 8.63%) and the lowest number of maggots per fruit (12.50, 9.57). Following closely, deltamethrin 2.8 EC (0.0028%), azadirachtin 1 EC (0.005%), and malathion 50 EC (0.1%) treatments showed comparable effectiveness in reducing fruit infestation. However, the number of maggots per infested fruit was significantly lower in the deltamethrin and azadirachtin treatments compared to malathion. On the other hand, dichlorovos 76 SC (0.152%) were found to be less effective, showing relatively lower reductions in fruit infestation and the number of maggots per infested fruit compared to other treatments, except the control treatment.

Keywords: Bactrocera cucurbitae, jaggery, Momordica charantia, synthetic insecticides