Can Solanaceae Vegetables Serve as Equivalent Host to Cucurbitaceae for the Melon Fly, Bactrocera Cucurbitae (Coquillett) in Bangladesh?

The aim of the present research work was to observe the host suitability of Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae family in respect to the pupal number and percent adult emergence of melon fly. An open choice oviposition method was applied to the melon fly Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) in a cage containing six different vegetables of the family Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae. Snake gourd, pumpkin, bitter gourd and cucumber were chosen from Cucurbitaceae while tomato and eggplant were from Solanaceae family. After oviposition for a set period, each of the vegetables was kept separately until pupation. Total numbers of pupae collected from each host were subjected to statistical analysis and the host-wise differences were found insignificant. The insignificant numbers of pupae obtained from different hosts reflect that melon fly has no particular ovipositional preference for Cucurbitaceae plants. Based on adult emergences from each host a slight suitability order of B. cucurbitae was observed as follows: egg plant > pumpkin > snake gourd > cucumber > bitter gourd >tomato i.e. highest number of adults were emerged from the pupae from egg plant and lowest numbers from tomato. However, statistical analysis did not support any significant suitability order among the hosts analyzed in the study. Therefore, being reported occasional hosts in nature, two Solanaceae hosts, namely tomato and eggplant might be considered as equivalent hosts like other hosts of the family Cucurbitaceae studied.