Developing Laboratory Scale Rearing of Oriental Fruit Fly Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Full-text:Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), is an invasive insect that infest varied range of fruits and vegetables. B. dorsalis has become a threat to agricultural sector in Malaysia. The fruit production has declined about 4% since 2013 due to fruit fly infestations and decrease in the export of fruits due to high levels of insecticide residues. Sterile insect technique (SIT) have been introduced to reduce fruit fly's population without harming the environment. One of the components in SIT is mass rearing that aimed for increasing fruit fly population before irradiation. Therefore, rearing fruit fly in laboratory-scale has been conducted for the development of SIT. The objectives are to optimize the fruit fly feeding regimen, determine the rearing duration of each stage in fruit fly's life cycle, and examine the morphology of the fruit flies. This study was carried out under laboratory condition at room temperature. Fruit flies were provided with artificial diets and 10% sugar solution. Its morphology was observed using digital microscope. As a result, the artificial diet was changed twice a week while the 10% sugar solution was changed once a month. The duration of each phase of the fruit fly's lifecycle was determined: 10 to 12 days from egg to third in star larvae, 5 to 14 days from third instar larvae to pupa formation, and 7 to 10 days from pupa to adult fruit fly. The complete life cycle took about 22 to 36 days. In conclusion, this fruit fly rearing procedure can help maintain the B.dorsalis population in the laboratory prior the development of SIT. (author)