Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel (Diptera: tephritidae) egg-laying preferences and larval developmental on five mango varieties of Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract

‎‎‎The Bactrocera dorsalis is crucial agriculturally pest, which causes damage to commercial fruits such as mango. It develops and grows its progeny in the pulp of ripening fruits. Therefore, a study was conducted to observe the egg-laying activities and movements of maggots in common and famous five mango cultivars (Chunsa, Sindhri, Beganpali, Lal Bad shah, and Sonaro) of Sindh, Pakistan. These varieties of mango were examined during a series of experiments in the laboratory under controlled conditions. The infested mangoes were collected from a field and sliced. The larvae were collected from (per fruit) each variety for the rearing of flies and fondness of the host. The fruits were kept in cages for hatching, maggots survived on an artificial diet (sucrose solution 10%) in Laboratory (. Results show that the numbers of larvae were observed significantly different (df = 2, f = 736.9149, p<0.05) from per fruit of five mango varieties. Bactrocera dorsalis severely oviposited Chunsa variety (83.5 ± 1.93 larvae, range 81-85), followed by Sindhri (67 ± 4.06 larvae, range 61-64), Beganpali (59.6 ± 3.090 larvae, range 57-61) and Lal Bad Shah (53.9 ± 2.3, range 55-57), and least on Sonaro variety (41.2 ± 2.04 larvae, range 38-40). Sindhri and Beganpali showed no significance with Lal Badshah, but both varieties showed significant differences (p<0.05) with Sonaro.