Abstract
Phytosanitary measures are a major barrier to trade in papaya. We assessed the infestation of tephritid fruit fies on different stages of maturity of papaya, to determine its non-host stage of maturity, for market access. Papaya fruits were collected from Kilif and Embu counties, Kenya from March 2013 to December 2014, to assess the level of infestation by fruit fies according to the degree of fruit ripening. In all locations, no fruit fly infestation was recorded on papaya when fruits were at the 0, 25 and 50% yellow fruit ripening stage. Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) was, however, observed attacking fruits when papaya fruits were at 75 and 100% all yellow (fully ripe fruit ripening stage) with infestations of 0.19–0.51 B. dorsalis/kg fruit and 0.24–1.24 B. dorsalis/kg fruit, respectively, in all locations. Field cage exposure of B. dorsalis to fruits of fve papaya cultivars—‘Papino’, ‘Neo Essence’, ‘Sunrise Solo’, ‘Tainung No. 1’ and ‘Tainung No. 2’ in Manica Province, Mozambique—showed that B. dorsalis did not infest fruits at 0, 25 and 50% yellow ripening stages at the densities of 50 and 100 fies per cage. However, at 75% yellow ripening stage, up to 13.1 pupae/kg of fruits was recorded at a density of 150 fies per cage in Tainung No. 1, and infestation ranged from 4.5 to 136 pupae/kg fruits at 100% yellow ripening stage across all the cultivars and infestation densities. Laboratory evaluation of volatiles emanating from freshly crushed papaya pulp of four cultivars: ‘Sunrise Solo’, ‘Red Lady’, ‘Papayi’ and ‘Apoyo’ on egg viability of B. dorsalis showed that at 0,25 and 50% yellow, egg hatchability was inhibited, suggesting that semiochemical compounds present in green tissues of papaya prevent egg development, although this effect was variable across the four cultivars and ripening stages. Export papaya is harvested at less than 40% yellow ripening stage. Our results, therefore, suggest that quarantine treatment for fruits at this ripening stage is inconsequential, as B. dorsalis does not infest papaya fruits at this stage; thus, authorities should permit entry of these papaya cultivars of less than 40% yellow ripening stage to quarantine-sensitive markets.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aluja, M., Diaz-Fleischer, F. and Arredondo, J. (2004) Nonhost status of commercial Persea americana ‘Hass’ to Anastrepha ludens, Anastrepha obliqua, Anastrepha serpentina and Anastrepha striata (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Mexico. Journal of Economic Entomology 97, 293–309.
Aluja, M. and Mangan, R. L. (2008) Fruit fy (Diptera: Tephritidae) host status determination: critical conceptual, methodological, and regulatory considerations. Annual Review of Entomology 53, 473–502.
Armstrong, J. W. (1983) Infestation biology of three fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) species on ‘Brazilian,’ ‘Valery,’ and ‘William’s’ cultivars of banana in Hawaii. Journal of Economic Entomology 76, 539–543.
Armstrong, J. W. (1994) Commodity resistance to infestation by quarantine pests, pp. 199–211. In Quarantine Treatments for Pests of Food Plants (edited by J. L. Sharp and, G. J. Hallman). Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, USA.
Armstrong, J. W. (2001) Quarantine security of bananas at harvest maturity against Mediterranean and Oriental fruit fies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Hawaii. Journal of Economic Entomology 94, 302–314.
Armstrong, J. W. and Jang, E. B. (1997) An overview of present and future fruit fly research in Hawaii and the US mainland, pp. 30–42. In Management of Fruit Flies in the Pacifc: A Regional Symposium (edited by A. J. Allwood and, R. A. I. Drew). Nadi, Fiji 28–31 October 1996. ACIAR Proceedings No. 76.
Asudi, G. O. (2010) Collection, morphological and molecular characterization of papaya germplasm in Kenya. MSc Thesis. Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi. 99 pp.
Back, E. A. and Pemberton, C. E. (1917) The melon fy in Hawaii. Bulletin of the US Department of Agriculture 491, 1–64.
Christenson, L. D. and Foote, R. H. (1960) Biology of fruit fies. Annual Review of Entomology 5, 171–192.
Cowley, J. M., Baker, R. T. and Harte, D. S. (1992) Defnition and determination of host status for multivoltine fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) species. Journal of Economic Entomology 85, 312–317.
Cugala, D., Ekesi, S., Ambasse, D., Adamu, R. S. and Mohamed, S. A. (2014) Assessment of ripening stages of Cavendish dwarf bananas as host or non-host to Bactrocera invadens. Journal of Applied Entomology 138, 449–457.
De la Cruz Medina, J., Gutiérrez, G. V. and García, H. S. (2003) Papaya Post-harvest Operations: INPhO Post-Harvest Compendium. FAO, Rome. 70 pp.
De Meyer, M., Delatte, H., Mwatawala, M., Quilici, S., Vayssières, J. F. and Virgilio, M. (2015) A review of the current knowledge on Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera, Tephritidae) in Africa, with a list of species included in Zeugodacus. ZooKeys 540, 539–557. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.540.9672.
De Meyer, M. and Ekesi, S. (2016) Exotic invasive fruit fies (Diptera: Tephritidae): in and out of Africa, pp. 127–150. In Fruit Fly Research and Development in Africa— Towards a Sustainable Management Strategy to Improve Horticulture (edited by S. Ekesi, S. A. Mohamed and, M. De Meyer). Springer International Publishing AG, Cham, Switzerland.
Dong, Y.-J., Song, C.-W., Chuang, Y.-Y., Chiang, K.-S., Wu, W.-J., Cheng, L.-L. and Chen, C.-C. (2011) Degree of fruit ripeness affecting infestation of papaya by two species of fruit fies (Diptera: Tephritidae). Journal of Taiwan Agricultural Research 60, 253–262.
Ekesi, S. and Billah, M. K. (2007) A Field Guide to the Management of Economically Important Tephritid Fruit Flies in Africa. icipe, Nairobi, Kenya. 143 pp.
Ekesi, S., de Meyer, M., Mohamed, S. A., Virgilio, M. and Borgemeister, C. (2016) Taxonomy, ecology and management of native and exotic fruit fly species in Africa. Annual Review of Entomology 61, 219–238. doi: 10.1146/annurev-ento-010715-023603.
Ekesi, S., Nderitu, P. W. and Chang, C. L. (2007) Adaptation to and small-scale rearing of invasive fruit fly Bactrocera invadens (Diptera: Tephritidae) on artifcial diet. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 100, 562–567.
FAOSTAT (2013). FAO Statistical Database. https://doi.org/www.fao.org/waicent/portal/statistics_en.asp (Accessed 1 September 2016).
Flath, R. A and Forrey, R. R. (1977) Volatile components of papaya (Carica papaya L. Solo variety). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 25, 103–109. doi: 10.1021/jf60209a051.
Flitters, N. E., Miyabara, F., Nakagawa, S. and Dresner, E. (1953) The status of commercial pineapples as hosts of the oriental fruit fly in Hawaii. In Special Report Ho-1: Fruit Fly Investigations in Hawaii. US Department of Agriculture, Entomology Research Branch, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
GEPC [Ghana Export Promotion Council] (2000) Ghana export performance, non-traditional exports, 1995–1999. Ghana Export Promotion Council, 2Accra, Ghana.
Hennessey, M. K., Knight Jr, R. J. and Schnell, R. J. (1995) Antibiosis to Caribbean fruit fly in avocado germplasm. HortScience 30, 1061–1062.
Lichtenstein, E. P., Strong, F. M. and Morgan, D. G. (1962) Naturally occurring insecticides, identifcation of 2-phenylethyliosthiocyanate as an insecticide occurring naturally in the edible part of turnips. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 10, 30–33. doi: 10.1021/jf60119a009.
Liquido, N. J., Cunningham, R. T. and Couey, H. M. (1989) Infestation rates of papaya by fruit fies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in relation to the degree of fruit ripeness. Journal of Economic Entomology 82, 213–218.
Lux, S. A., Copeland, R. S., White, I. M., Manrakhan, A. and Billah, M. K. (2003) A new invasive fruit fly species from the Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) group detected in East Africa. International Journal of Tropical Insect Science 23, 355–361. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S174275840001242X.
Mwatawala, M. W., de Meyer, D., Makundi, R. H. and Maerere, A. P. (2006) Seasonality and host utilization of the invasive fruit fly, Bactrocera invadens (Dipt., Tephritidae) in central Tanzania. Journal of Applied Entomology 130, 530–537.
Nguyen, R., Gillis, S. and Harris, D. (1993) ‘Solo’ Sunrise papaya as a host of the Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspensa (Loew), under feld and laboratory conditions. Proceedings of the Florida Horticultural Society 106, 118–119.
SAS Institute (2001) SAS state software. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC.
Seo, S. T. and Tang, C.-S. (1982) Hawaiian fruit fies (Diptera: Tephritidae): toxicity of benzyl isothiocyanate against eggs or 1st instars of three species. Journal of Economic Entomology 75, 1132–1135.
Seo, S. T., Tang, C.-S., Sanidad, S. and Takenaka, T. H. (1983) Hawaiian fruit fies (Diptera: Tephritidae): variation of index of infestation with benzyl iso-thiocyanate concentration and color of maturing papaya. Journal of Economic Entomology 76, 535–538.
Syed, R. A. (1971) Studies on trypetids and their natural enemies in West Pakistan. V. Dacus (Strumeta) cucur-bitae Coquillett. Technical Bulletin of the Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control 14, 63–75.
Tang, C. S., Syed, M. M. and Hamilton, R. A. (1972) Benzyl isothiocyanate in the Caricaceae. Phytochemistry 11, 2531–2533.
Willard, H. F., Mason, A. C. and Fullaway, D. T. (1929) Susceptibility of avocados of the Guatemala race to attack by the Mediterranean fruit fly in Hawaii. Hawaiian Forester and Agriculturist 26, 171–176.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cugala, D., Jordane, J.J. & Ekesi, S. Non-host status of papaya cultivars to the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae), in relation to the degree of fruit ripeness. Int J Trop Insect Sci 37, 19–29 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742758416000242
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742758416000242