ABSTRACT

Drosophila species (Diptera: Drosophilidae), commonly known as fruit flies, are cosmopolitan insects that are problematic to fruit crops. They cause enormous damage to food, fruits in human dwellings and market places. One possible means of managing these fruit flies in homes and market places is through mass trapping. Here, two trap designs were tested for their trapping efficiency and several fruit and drinks were tested to evaluate their attractiveness to the flies. In the preference test, five fruits citrus (orange), Tomatoes, Banana, Onions, Pineapple and two drinks Beer and Red wine were used in a trap with bait-holding Chambers. Trapping efficiency was ascertained with two trap types without namely; trap with bait chamber and trap without bait chambers, while the frost trial (preference test) was set up in a walk-in cage of 3m × 3m × 1m (l × b × h). The test of trapping efficiency was conducted within a 45cm × 45cm × 45cm insect cage. Both trails were setup in a completely randomised design and a laboratory bred population of Drosophila species was released into the cages, where the number of insect caught, number of drowned insects and the number alive after 24 and 48 hours were counted (in preference trial) and 24 hours (trapping efficiency trial). Results showed that Drosophila species were significantly (p<0.05) more attracted to tomato baited traps than other baitraps without bait holding chamber was significantly more efficient than the trap that had a bait holding chamber. The implication of these findings are that tomatoes would be the most preferred bait for mass trapping Drosophila species and the trap design does play a role in trap catch.