Efficacy of various attractants to the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae) under laboratory condition

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Research

Authors
Masoumeh Gheytuli 1
Esmail Asadi Ahangar Kolaei 1
Mehrdad Ahmadi 2
S. Moharramipour 1
1 Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.
2 Nuclear Agriculture Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, Karaj, Islamic Republic of Iran.
Abstract
The Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae) causes substantial economic losses worldwide. The attractiveness of protein hydrolysates (mainly corn, fish, wheat, wheat gluten, and yeast), commercial fruit juices (apple, pomegranate, grape, mango, orange, cherry), and chemical additives (mainly ammonium acetate, ammonium bicarbonate, sodium benzoate, sodium metabisulfite, citric acid) was evaluated. Bioassays were conducted under controlled laboratory conditions (28 ± 1 °C, 55 ± 5% RH, 16:8 h L:D) using a six-arm olfactometer with five independent replicates. Attraction was measured as the mean number of adults per trap (APT). Among protein hydrolysates, corn hydrolysate exhibited the highest attraction of 14.6 ± 0.99 APT, significantly greater than all others, while yeast autolysate was least attractive (0.9 ± 0.23 APT). Among fruit juices, apple juice was significantly the most effective (7.73 ± 0.49 APT), while orange juice showed the weakest response (3.5 ± 0.5 APT). Among chemical additives, 5% ammonium acetate was most significantly attractive (10.2 ± 1.4 APT). For all treatments, females responded significantly more strongly than males (P < 0.05). Females responded significantly more strongly than males across all treatments. Combined treatments showed enhanced attraction exceeding individual attractants. In the final comparative experiment, the selected formulations from the preceding optimization stages containing 2% ammonium acetate, 6% corn hydrolysate, and 2% apple juice showed the highest attraction response (12.6 ± 0.63 APT) and was selected as the final optimal formulation. These findings demonstrate that integrating attractants can substantially enhance bait attractiveness and offer a potentially sustainable strategy for C. capitata management. However, these results are from laboratory assays, and field validation is required.
Keywords
Attractants
Integrated pest management
Olfactometer
Protein hydrolysate
Trap
Subjects
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Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 24 October 2026