Vol. 10, Special Issue 10 (2021)

Author(s):
Paripoorani S, Elaiyabharathi T, Srinivasan T and Paramasivam M

Abstract:
Melon fruit fly, Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coq.) (Tephritidae: Diptera), is a serious threat in horticultural crops especially in cucurbits. Development of female-based trap would be more sensible, befitting and more beneficial. Focusing on female fruit flies, three food baits viz, Bait 1 (guava-based food bait), Bait 2 (muskmelon-based food bait) and Bait 3 (guava + muskmelon-based food bait) were developed and volatiles collected from the baits were analysed in GC-MS to determine the compounds responsible for attraction and further subjected to heat map analysis and Principal Component Analysis to quantify their distribution and abundance in the baits. Results revealed that compounds namely á-Pinene, à-Phellandrene, o-Cymene, Caryophyllene were predominantly observed in all the three baits whereas compounds such as 2-Methyl-1-butanol, 1-Pentanol and á-Ocimene were predominant in B1, B2 and B3 baits respectively. Many other compounds such as ethyl butanoate, benzothiazole, myrcene, phenylethyl alcohol were found to be unique compounds in each bait.