The results of this study showed that the attracted males exhibited a different response to the examined factors at two trap heights and during both study seasons (2011 and 2012) of study. However, statistical analysis indicated that the maturity level of guava fruits was the most effective variable in attracting males to methyl eugenol (ME)-baited traps hung at 1 and 2 m heights and had an effect on the average number of attracted males at the two height levels. The common rank of the independent variables according to the average number of males attracted to both height levels seemed to be as follows: guava maturation level (42.33%), maximum soil temperature (5.28%), maximum relative humidity (5.05%), minimum relative humidity (1.79%), minimum soil temperature at 5 cm depth (1.51%), maximum temperature (1.05%) and minimum temperature (0.48%). Our results suggest that trapping system consists of fly trap baited with 0.5 ml ME must be used at dawn period (the first appearance of light in the morning followed by sunrise) as peach fruit fly (PFF) males had highest activity at dawn period between 5 and 7 a.m. Traps must be hung from guava trees at 1 m height as this height was shown to be the most suitable for capturing high numbers of PFF males. The results indicate also that PFF adults could be emerged from pupae buried in the sand soil at a depth of 40 cm. At 50 cm, adults failed to emerge. Statistical analysis proved negative correlation between the emerged flies and the column weight of sand over the pupae.
The population of peach fruit fly during 2011 season increased gradually starting from the fourth week of July to reach its first major peak throughout the second week of September with 1340 flies/trap/day for traps suspended at 1 m height and during the third week of September with 909 flies/trap/day for traps hung at 2 m heights. Afterwards, the population trend showed a slight but gradual declining trend from the third week of September up to the third week of October. The population was then increased to reach its second major peak during the fourth week of October with 696 and 595 flies/trap/day for traps hung at 1 and 2 m heights, respectively. The greatest drop in the trapped population at both trap heights was observed from the second week of November until the end of the season (second week of December). A total of 105270 flies/trap at both 1 and 2 m trap heights during the entire seasons of 2011 were recorded. In 2012 season, the population followed nearly the same trend as that observed during 2011 season with minor variations. One major peak of abundance was recorded during the first week of October with 1344 and 955 flies/ trap/day for traps hung at 1 and 2 m, respectively. The second major peak (1104 and 894 flies/trap/day) was observed during the fourth week of October for traps suspended at 1 and 2 m, respectively. A remarkable decrease in the population could be seen from the first week of December until the end of the season (fourth week of December). Statistical analysis of the data showed highly significant differences between fruit fly population captured at 1 m trap height (Mean = 446.9 ± 97 flies/ trap/day) and that captured at 2 m trap heights (Mean = 321 ± 72 flies/trap/day) with paired t of 4.7 ** and p-value of 0.0001 ** .
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