Abstract
A series of field evaluations were conducted at different places in Bogra district during December, 2009 to November, 2013 to develop the management strategies of cucurbit fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) of bitter gourd. A demographic study made on management of cucurbit fruit fly by the farmers of five different bitter gourd growing areas showed the scenario of actual practices in this regard. A greater percent (72.8%) of bitter gourd farmers are illiterate and have less than 01 acre of bitter gourd cultivation area. Among the respondents 91.2% are experienced with bitter gourd cultivation previously, where 59.2% cultivate local variety and 40.8% cultivate hybrid variety of bitter gourd. From the study it has been revealed that farmers trained on IPM and ICM of vegetable cultivation are generally negligible (17.6%) in all the surveyed areas. All the farmers mentioned that cucurbit fruit fly is the major pest of bitter gourd and amongst them 84.8% have the right idea about cucurbit fruit fly. From the survey a total of 21 brands of pesticides have been listed out, from which 87.2% farmers were found to use different kind of synthetic pesticides to control the cucurbit fruit fly. Among them about 59.2% farmers use pesticides twice in a month and 40.0% use once in a month. Only 5.6% farmers opined that pesticides are effective for control of the pest. Efficacy test with five insecticides showed that Nitro 505EC @ 1ml/liter water was most effective against cucurbit fruit fly. Spray coverage both upper & lower surface of trellis and spray time between 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm were found effective to control this pest. A similar effectiveness was found with the use of Darsban (@ 10kg/ha), Furadan (@ 10kg/ha) and Poultry Refuse (@ 1500kg/ha) for controlling of puparium. Setting sex pheromone trap at 15m X 15m was most effective to control of cucurbit fruit fly. Among the botanicals jute seed extract was better in reducing the infestation. Use of ripen banana and sweet gourd as bait trap kept infestation at minimum level. The integration of pheromone trap + baiting with banana + poultry refuses in the soil and integration of bait trap with banana + spraying of jute seed extract + poultry refuses gave better result than other combinations to control cucurbit fruit fly. Analysis of cost and benefit showed the ratio of 1: 4.91 in bitter gourd cultivation when the fruit fly was controlled with the integrated use of baiting with banana, spraying jute seed extract and application of poultry refuse. The possibility of IPM for cucurbit fruit fly is discussed in relation to the availability and cost effectiveness.