Symptoms of damage:

• Maggots feed on the pulp of the fruits
• Oozing of resinous fluid from fruits
• Distorted and malformed fruits
• Premature dropping of fruits and also unfit for consumption

Infected fruit	Split on fruit	Gumosis on fruit
Brownish internal tissue		Stunted fruit

Identification of pest:

• Eggs: Laid singly in clusters on fruits
• Larva: Dirty white apodous maggot
• Pupa: Pupate in soil

Adult

Bactrocera cucurbitae: Hyaline wings with brown and grey spots at the apex
Bactrocera ciliates: Ferruginous brown body. Smaller than Bactrocera cucurbitae
B. zonata: Body yellowish with pale yellow band on 3rd tergite

Management:

• Collect infested and fallen fruits and bum in deep pits.
• In endemic areas, change the sowing date as the fly population is low in hot dry conditions and at its peak during rainy season
• Expose the pupae by ploughing and turning over soil after harvest
• Use ribbed gourd as trap crop and apply carbaryl 0.15% or malathion 0.1% on congregating adult flies on the undersurface of leaves.
• Use attractants like citronella oil, eucalyptus oil, vinegar (acetic acid), and lactic acid to trap flies.
• Use poison baiting in severe infestation
• Mix methyl eugenol + malathion 50 EC at 1:1 ratio and keep 10 ml of the bait in polythene bags @ 25/ha.
• Use fly trap
• Keep 5 g of wet fishmeal in polythene bags (20 x 15cm) with six holes (3 mm dia)
• Add 0.1 ml of dichlorvos.
• Dichlorvos should be added every week and fishmeal renewed once in 20 days @ 5traps/ha.