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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Hilo, Hawaii » Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center » Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #334228
Research Project: Detection, Control and Area-wide Management of Fruit Flies and Other Quarantine Pests of Tropical/Subtropical Crops

Location: Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research

Title: Assessment of a liquid larval diet for rearing Dacus and Bactrocera species (Diptera:Tephritidae), in Western Africa

Author
item ANATO, F. M. - International Institute Of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
item Chang, Chiou
item BOKONON-GANTA, A. H. - International Institute Of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
item GNANVOSSOU, D - International Institute Of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
item HANNA, R - International Institute Of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)

Submitted to: Journal of Applied Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/7/2017
Publication Date: 7/11/2017
Citation: Anato, F., Chang, C.L., Bokonon-Ganta, A., Gnanvossou, D., Hanna, R. 2017. Assessment of a liquid larval diet for rearing Dacus and Bactrocera species (Diptera:Tephritidae), in Western Africa. Journal of Applied Entomology. doi: 10.1111/jen.12419.

Interpretive Summary: A cost effective fruit fly liquid larval diet using sponge cloth that solved the waste product management issue has been developed by USDA-ARS since 2004 and has been demonstrated worldwide. Some were successfully adopted and some were not. Species of the genus Dacus, important pests of fruit and vegetables are usually reared on natural fruit. Two Dacus fruit fly species, Dacus punctatifrons Karsch and Dacus vertebratus Bezzi along with Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel were reared on an artificial liquid diet and compared with a carrot (Daucus carota L.) based solid diet, and a natural fruit host (cucumber, Cucumus sativus L.) were assessed in this study. The objective is to assess the suitability of this liquid diet for a small scale rearing of these two species. Our study revealed that both liquid diet and solid carrot-based diets were not suitable for small-scale rearing of the tested Dacus species and further research is needed to find a suitable artificial diet. The implications of our results for fruit fly management programs are discussed.

Technical Abstract: The fruit fly larval diet formulations developed by USDA-ARS were used in this study to compare with other artificial and natural diet to rear two Dacus species. The evaluation was based on the parameters of egg hatch, pupal production, adult emergence, flight ability, and productivity. This study showed that the two Dacus species did not develop well on either liquid diet or the solid carrot-based artificial diet. Contrary to these species, it was confirmed that B. dorsalis performed well on the liquid diet. Natural fruit of cucumber was the best rearing substrate for Dacus species, resulting in a good pupal production and a relatively high emergence rate for D. punctatifrons and D. vertebratus.