LAUSR

The effectiveness of the “attract and kill” approach for the management of Bactrocera dorsalis in citrus orchards using autoinoculation strategy was evaluated in three locations in Senegal (Sindia, Sebikhotane and Ndoyene), between 2016 and 2018. Attractant Contaminant Traps (ACT) were treated with 0.3 g of Metarhizium acridum, and methyl eugenol was then deployed at densities of 25, 50 and 100 ACT to infect the flies. Recovery Traps (RT) containing methyl eugenol and a toxicant, Timaye were used to monitor the B. dorsalis population and the contamination rate. Results showed that the rate of contaminated flies increases with the number of ACT, at an average daily rate of contaminated flies of 68.1%, 85.44% and 99.67% at 25, 50, 100 traps, respectively. No contaminated flies were found in the control. The number of flies caught decreased from 21.7, 4.2 and 6.2 flies per day, respectively, for 25, 50, 100 ACTs and control in the first week, to 0.64, 0.71, 0.71 and 99.9 flies per day, respectively, for 25, 50, 100 ACTs and the control. All the flies caught at M. acridum treated sites were contaminated. No significant difference between the incidence of fruit damage in the three ACT densities and the control was found in the first week; however, there was a significant difference over time, from 90.0, 96.7 and 83.3% in the first week, to 30, 50 and 46.7% at the 14th week, respectively, for 25, 50 and 100 ACTs. No significant differences were found in the control. This present study demonstrated the efficacy of autoinoculative systems based-M. acridum for the management of B. dorsalis in citrus orchards in Senegal. This strategy is economical as it uses very little amounts of inoculum with locally made materials.