INTRODUCTION NWFP has temperate cli

INTRODUCTION
NWFP has temperate climate and most of the
temperate fruit are successfully grown in the upper half of
the province, which include plum, pear, peach and apple
(Khan, 1994). The insect pests are the most important
factor, responsible for the low yield and inferior quality of
fruit of Pakistan. Numerous species of insects attack and
damage the fruits. Among them the fruit flies are the
serious pests of fruit the fruit flies adults (Bactrocera spp.)
are more or less about the size of house fly. They are light
yellow to blackish in colour. The wings of various species
are ornamented with brown yellow sport. Their bodies
taper posteriorly and the females are provided with a
pointed ovipositor at the apex of abdomen (Yasuda et al.,
1981). In additional to, causing direct losses in the yield
and marketability, they pose as significant threats to
quarantine security and thus to international trade in fruits
and fresh vegetables world-wide (Joomaye et al., 2000).
Four hundred species belonging to the genus Bactrocera
are widely distributed in tropical Asia, South Pacific and
Australia regions, but very few species of such genus were
recorded in Africa (Drew et al. 1994). Fruit flies cause
loss in Pakistan estimated in 200 million dollars annually
at farm level. The use of cover insecticide sprays against
fruit flies is wide spread and increasing. The value of
insecticides used against fruit and (cucurbit) vegetable
flies was 637 million rupees in 1994, equivalent to U.S
$18.7 million. Small farmers suffer more than large ones,
through limited access to protection methods such as
insecticides (John et al., 1997). Peach fruit fly Bactrocera
zonata (Saunders) is one of the most serious polyphagous
insect pests. It attacks a large host range of fruit and
vegetables hosts; such as mango, peach, Figure, guava,
citrus, tomato and apple (Fletcher, 1987).
The objective of the study was t