Presentation made by

1. Assessment of the invasive fruit fly,
Bactrocera invadens (Diptera: Tethritidae),
fruit infestation and damage in
Mozambique
José, Laura1; Cugala, Domingos1; Santos, Luisa1
Eduardo Mondlane University, PO Box 257, Maputo- Mozambique
*Corresponding author: lauraajose@gmail.com
3rd RUFORUM BIENNIAL CONFERENCE
24-28 SEPTEMBER, 2012, ENTEBBE, UGANDA

2. Background
Mozambique had a total population of 23,049,621 in
2011;
Population density was 28.8 inhabitants/km2;
A annual population growth of 2.8% inhabitant/km2
In Mozambique, more than 70% of the population lives in
rural areas dependent on agriculture
There are about 36 million hectares suitable for
agriculture
And about 90% is utilized by the small holder sector

3. Background (cont.)
Agriculture is a key sector for economic
growth in Mozambique
It provides work to more than 80% of the workforce;
The main activity for 95% of the population living in rural
areas
In Mozambique, fruit and vegetable production play an important
role in the economy as it:
ensures food security,
source of income ,
creates employment

4. Problem statement
Fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) are among the most important
pests of fruits and vegetables because:
1.Their direct damage on fruits
Bactrocera invadens
(invasive fruit fly)
2. Indirect damage due to quarantine restrictions imposed by
importing countries
3. Economic impact

5. • Asian origin
• In Africa, B. invadens was first
detected in Kenya in Quénia (Lux et
al., 2003)
• Attacking various hosts among fruits
and vegetables (>75 famílias)
• Causing 20 to 80% of direct damage
(Lux et al., 2003).

6. • In Mozambique, B.
invadens was first
detected in 2007 in Niassa
province (Correia et al.,
2008).
• However, there has been
no damage assessment,
since it’s first detection.
• Therefore, the present
study was conducted to
assess the levels of B.
invadens fruit infestation
and damage.

7. STUDY DESCRIPTION
• Location : Mieze and Chiure, Cabo
Delgado province
• From January to March 2012.

8. Sampled fruits
Mangifera indica (mango)
Psidium guajava (guava)
Terminalia catappa (tropical almond)
Anonna squamosa (sugar apple)
Punica granatum (pomegranate)
 Emerged adults of fruit flies were counted and identified.
 Levels of damage were determined as ratio of number of
infested fruits per total collected fruits
 Infestation indices were expressed as mean number of
fruit fly pupae and B. invadens adult per fruit and kg
 Data were subjected to ANOVA (PROC GLM, SAS
Institute).

9. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table I. Fruit fly (FF) species, number FF adults per species
and host
Emerged FF adults
Pupae
Host colle- Bactrocera Ceratitis Ceratitis Ceratitis To Relati
cted invadens rosa cosyra capitata tal ve %
Mango 1024 670 0 38 0 708 21.02
Guava 1865 1667 59 0 4 1730 51.37
Tropical almond 1038 896 0 0 0 896 26.6
Sugar apple 34 31 2 0 0 33 0.98
Pomegranate 1 1 0 0 0 1 0.03
Total 3962 3265 61 38 4
Relative
abundance 96,94 1,81 1,13 0,12

10. • B. invadens is becoming the most abundant species
• Pre-invasion data indicated that Ceratitis and Dacus
species were the most abundant and economically
important (Maússe and Bandeira, 2007)
• Replacement of the native Ceratitis species by the
invasive was also reported in Tanzania by Mwatawala et
al. (2009)
Competitive displacement

11. Table II. Levels of fruit damage (%) and infestation
(pupae/fruit and Kg and number of B. invadens/fruit and Kg)
B.
Nr of B.
Host Damage(%) Pupae/fruit Pupae/kg invadens/fr
fruits invadens/Kg
uit
Mango
(37.8kg) 119 56,5±0.12ab 8,91±0.35a 29,03±0.44ab 5,47±0.28a 17,26±0.36b
Guava
(12kg) 237 92,49±0.21a 10,1±0.57a 217,33±3.93a 6,29±0.55a 141,62±0.63a
Tropical
almond
(4.6kg) 107 67,32±2.71ab 7,46±1.34ab 175,60±7.2ab 6,63±1.35a 157,24±7.35a
Sugar apple
(3.5kg) 28 36,67±4.06ab 0,9±0.38b 8,25±1.67ab 0,85±0.36b 7,87±1.63c
Pomegrana-
te (2kg) 15 6,67b 0,07b 0,84b 0,07b 0,84d
F values 3,47 5,27 5,28 2,7 5,28
P>F values 0,042 0,011 0,011 0,08 0,011
CV 28,49 30,86 49,54 36,39 49,69
Means numbers in the same column followed by the same letter are not significantly different (P<0.05).

12. Mango, guava and tropical almond have been cited as the
fruit flies most infested hosts in other African countries
Tropical almond may be
considered an important
reservoir of B. invadens
and the same was
observed in Kenya by
Rwomushana et al.
(2008).
Sugar apple and pomegranate are considered less
important in B. invadens population dynamics (De Meyer
et al., 2011) and Ekesi and Billah, 2007)

13. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
• The severity of B. invadens infestation was high in all
economically important host fruits.
From RUFORUM case studies:
Mozambique

14. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Ministério de Agricultura
• Thanks to the farmers covered by this study for
their cooperation in data collection

15. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
OBRIGADA