Preference and performance of peach fruit fly () and Melon fruit fly () under laboratory conditions.

In Pakistan and all over the world, the Peach Fruit Fly (PFF), (Saunders.) and the Melon Fruit Fly (MFF), (Coquillett.) are considered severe and polyphagous insect pests for various fruits and vegetables. The current study was conducted to check the Laboratory preference and performance of and on selected Fruits Citrus (), Apple (), Banana (), and vegetable, Sponge gourd (), Bitter gourd () Pumpkin () under laboratory conditions. The study showed that Sponge Gourd was the preferable host with the mean pupae resurgence of (242.33), followed by Bitter Gourd (78.333) among selected vegetables. At the same time, among fruits, a banana was the preferable host with mean pupae resurgence (204.33), followed by orange (158.33). The pumpkin and apple was the least preferable host for both and with mean pupae resurgence (35.667) and (79.000), respectively. Furthermore, the study showed that Banana was the preferable host for among intact and infested fruits, whereas showed the most preference to Bitter gourd among intact and infested vegetables showing significantly different results among intact and infested fruits and vegetables. Maximum number of eggs, pupa, female flies, male flies, adult emergence from pupa (flies) and period of pupa of and on banana and bitter gourd. While, other fruits and vegetables showed the minimum number of eggs, pupa, female flies, male flies, adult emergence from pupa (flies) and period of the pupa. The current study concluded there is a need to evaluate other host plants against these fruit fly species for effective control.