The effects of combined aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG) and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) treatments on quality attributes of ‘0900 Ziraat’ sweet cherry fruit during the cold storage and shelf life were investigated in this study. Significantly lower weight loss and decay ratios were observed in all treatments throughout the cold storage period as compared to the control. A similar case was also observed referring to the shelf life. MAP treatments were found to be more effective in retarding the weight loss and decay ratio. Higher hue angle values were measured from AVG-treated fruit at harvest. Similarly, hue angle of AVG and MAP-treated fruit were also higher than for the control in all periods of cold storage and on the 7th and 21st day of shelf life. AVG-treated fruit had higher firmness values than the control at harvest. However, higher firmness values were measured from MAP-treated fruit during the cold storage and shelf life. At the end of cold storage, lower SSC and higher titratable acidity values were observed in AVG and MAP-treated fruit than in the control. AVG + MAP treatments yielded significantly higher vitamin C, total phenolics and antioxidant activity values than the control. Contrarily, the control fruit had significantly higher total monomeric anthocyanin than the other treatments. Based on current findings, it was concluded that combined AVG + MAP treatments could be used as a beneficial tool to maintain the quality of sweet cherry fruit throughout the cold storage and shelf life.

The effects of combined aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG) and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) treatments on quality attributes of ‘0900 Ziraat’ sweet cherry fruit during the cold storage and shelf life were investigated in this study. Significantly lower weight loss and decay ratios were observed in all treatments throughout the cold storage period as compared to the control. A similar case was also observed referring to the shelf life. MAP treatments were found to be more effective in retarding the weight loss and decay ratio. Higher hue angle values were measured from AVG-treated fruit at harvest. Similarly, hue angle of AVG and MAP-treated fruit were also higher than for the control in all periods of cold storage and on the 7th and 21st day of shelf life. AVG-treated fruit had higher firmness values than the control at harvest. However, higher firmness values were measured from MAP-treated fruit during the cold storage and shelf life. At the end of cold storage, lower SSC and higher titratable acidity values were observed in AVG and MAP-treated fruit than in the control. AVG + MAP treatments yielded significantly higher vitamin C, total phenolics and antioxidant activity values than the control. Contrarily, the control fruit had significantly higher total monomeric anthocyanin than the other treatments. Based on current findings, it was concluded that combined AVG + MAP treatments could be used as a beneficial tool to maintain the quality of sweet cherry fruit throughout the cold storage and shelf life.

Abstract: Fruit flies are the main pests of fruit growing in Brazil. They have been managed predominantly with the use of insecticides applied as cover spray and or/as toxic baits. Currently, the trend of management strategies is toward the adoption of methods that cause the lowest environmental impact in large areas. In this context, biological control is an excellent option to be used together with other management strategies, such as sterile insects, because it leaves no residues, does not disturb nontarget pests, and can be permanent if the natural enemy establishes itself in the field. This review paper addresses the current knowledge on the biological control of fruit flies in Brazil, highlighting the great biodiversity of its natural enemies, especially parasitoids, its biology and ecology. The classical biological control programs in Brazil are also reported, from the introduction of Tetrastichus giffardianus (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), in 1937, to control Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae), to that of Fopius arisanus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), in 2012, to control Bactrocera carambolae (Diptera: Tephritidae). Finally, the obtained advances are pointed out, as well as the main bottlenecks and perspectives for the effective use of biological control programs against fruit flies.

Resumo: As moscas-das-frutas são as principais pragas da fruticultura no Brasil. O seu manejo tem sido realizado predominantemente com uso de inseticidas aplicados por cobertura e/ou na forma de isca-tóxica. Atualmente, a tendência das estratégias de manejo está direcionada à adoção de métodos de controle que causem menor impacto ambiental em grandes áreas. Neste contexto, o controle biológico é uma excelente opção para uso em conjunto com outras estratégias de manejo, como insetos estéreis, uma vez que não deixa resíduos, não atinge pragas não alvo e pode ser permanente se o inimigo natural se estabelecer em campo. Este artigo de revisão aborda o conhecimento atual sobre o controle biológico de moscas-das-frutas no Brasil, com destaque para a grande biodiversidade de seus inimigos naturais, especialmente os parasitoides, sua biologia e sua ecologia. Também são relatados os programas de controle biológico clássico no Brasil, desde a introdução de Tetrastichus giffardianus (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), em 1937, para o controle de Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae), até a de Fopius arisanus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), em 2012, para o controle de Bactrocera carambolae (Diptera: Tephritidae). Por fim, são destacados os avanços obtidos, bem como os principais gargalos e as perspectivas para uso efetivo de programas de controle biológico contra moscas-das-frutas. | Abstract: Fruit flies are the main pests of fruit growing in Brazil. They have been managed predominantly with the use of insecticides applied as cover spray and or/as toxic baits. Currently, the trend of management strategies is toward the adoption of methods that cause the lowest environmental impact in large areas. In this context, biological control is an excellent option to be used together with other management strategies, such as sterile insects, because it leaves no residues, does not disturb nontarget pests, and can be permanent if the natural enemy establishes itself in the field. This review paper addresses the current knowledge on the biological control of fruit flies in Brazil, highlighting the great biodiversity of its natural enemies, especially parasitoids, its biology and ecology. The classical biological control programs in Brazil are also reported, from the introduction of Tetrastichus giffardianus (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), in 1937, to control Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae), to that of Fopius arisanus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), in 2012, to control Bactrocera carambolae (Diptera: Tephritidae). Finally, the obtained advances are pointed out, as well as the main bottlenecks and perspectives for the effective use of biological control programs against fruit flies.

Fruit flies (Diptera Tephritidae) are a major pest to fruit production in Africa. Most efforts to control these pests are focused directly on the orchards where fruit damage has been recorded. However, fruit flies are generally able to develop on alternative indigenous fruits from which they continuously recolonize the orchards, challenging the ability to efficiently control these pests. In the natural and semi-natural environments, parasitic Hymenoptera remain the primary means of keeping populations of fruit flies at a reasonable level, but little is known about the diversity, the distribution and the ability of these parasitoids to effectively control populations. In this study, we explored the diversity and abundance of parasitoids of fruit fly pests in indigenous and exotic cultivated fruits of two separate regions of South Africa: North-East (Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces) and South-West (Western Cape Province). A total of 16 fruit species were collected and incubated to obtain emergence of fruit flies and their associated parasitoids. Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), Ceratitis rosa sensu lato Karsch, Ceratitis cosyra (Walker) and Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) were reared from the incubated fruit. In the Western Cape Province, only C. capitata and C. rosa sensu lato were recorded. Our results show an important contrast in the distribution of fruit fly parasitoid species between regions and between indigenous fruit types. Fopius ceratitivorus Wharton and Psyttalia humilis (Silvestri) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) dominated parasitism in the north-eastern part of the country, while fruit fly parasitoids were almost absent on fruit flies in the Western Cape Province. Parasitism rate of fruit flies ranged from 0 to ca 50% depending on fruit species and locality within a region. The exact drivers of this variation in parasitism rate remain unclear, but smaller fruits generally seem to allow better control of infesting fruit flies by parasitoids than larger ones. The fruits of some indigenous trees (Berchemia discolor (Klotzsch) Hemsl.; Syzygium cordatum Hochst. ex Krauss and Garcinia livingstonei T. Anderson) are hosts of high densities of both fruit flies and their parasitoids. These species are good candidates for the application of augmentoria for the mass production and release of biological control agents.