IPB Researchers Control Fruit Flies on Mandarin Orange

Indonesia has high import value of fruits especially Mandarin oranges which affect the increase of the risk of new pest and disease from exporting countries to crops in Indonesia.

Researcher from the Department of Food Science and Technology (ITP), Faculty of Agricultural Technology (Fateta) of Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Rizal Syarief, explained that one of the plant pest organisms on citrus fruit is fruit fly like Bactrocera. "If the fruit flies are not controlled, it can damage up to 100 percent of some fruit crops, so quarantine treatment is very important to be done. One of the quarantine methods that can be done is cold treatment," he said.

He and three other researchers, Rofika Rochmawati and Budi Nurtama from the ITP Department of Fateta of IPB and Rokhani Hasbullah from the Department of Biosystem and Agricultural Engineering of Fateta of IPB, had conducted a study on cold treatment to control the fruit fly on Mandarin oranges. The team inserted the eggs of Bactrocera cucurbitae into the flesh of oranges, then the oranges were incubated until the fruit flies reached each stadium. Furthermore, cold storage for 18 days was done and observed.

These researchers explained that Bactrocera cucurbitae in the form of instar 2 larval stadium is the most resistant stadium to cold treatment, and further research on mortality rate between stadium is required. Cold treatment with a temperature of 3°C (Celcius degree) for 18 days was proven as an effective way to kill Bactrocera cucurbitae fruit flies up to a 100 percent mortality rate.

"Cold treatment does not affect the colour characteristics of Mandarin oranges but affects the hardness of the fruit. The difference of the temperature also has no significant effect on the consumer preference for the treated Mandarin oranges with retailer-level storage simulation," Rizal Syarief said. (TK)