Complete fruit fly management
Emeritus Professor Dick Drew
Background
 Prof. Dick Drew AM;
 Emeritus Prof. Griffith University
 50 years in fruit fly research in Asia Pacific
 140 scientific papers & monographs covering
taxonomy, ecology & pest management of
tropical pest fruit flies
Needs across Australia
 On-farm control
 Area freedom for export
 Managing many major pest species
 Seven in eastern/northern Australia
 Medfly in WA
Variables
 Many susceptible crops
 Different cultivation systems
 Wide ranging climatic types
Underpinning Knowledge
 Over six decades of research on Qld
Fruit Fly (QFF)
 Thorough understanding of behaviour in
host plants/orchards
 Great platform for development of control
strategies
New Synthetic Female Lure
 Chemical analyses of fruit volatiles
 Identified and tested chemicals on QFF
 Result - combination of chemicals
highly attractive to mature female QFF
Trap Development
 Cobalt blue round shape
 Slow release gel
 Sticky surface
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Field Testing
 Five years – over 30 in-field experiments
 Major result – greater than 90% of fruit flies
trapped were mature egg-laying females
 Five major field control trials
Protein Bait Spray Research
Protein Bait Spray Research
 Two yeast-based baits – Natflav & Bugs For
Bugs
 Natflav surpasses Bugs For Bugs for attracting
female fruit flies
 Gel formulations – three-fold increase in toxicity
over six days’ weathering
Recommended Technologies
 Fruition traps – mature females
 Gelatinised Natflav protein bait – immature
females
 Combination targets entire female population
 Current trap designed for QFF
Field trials – Farm 1
 Kensington Pride mango plantation
 One Fruition trap/tree
 2.8% crop loss vs 25% in untreated
trees
Field trials – Farm 2

Kensington Pride mango plantation
 Fruition Traps – Monitoring only
 Weekly Gel Natflav sprays
 January 2016 - EcoNaturalure – Grower estimate 50% crop loss
 January 2017 - No Crop Loss

Feijoa plantation
 Fruition Traps + Gel yeast bait
 2% crop loss vs 96% in untreated trees
Field trials – Farm 2
 Persimmons
 540 trees (trellised)
 1.2 Ha.
 40 Fruition Traps
 Weekly Gel Natflav Sprays
 2016 – Grower estimate 30% crop loss
 27/2/2017 – No Damage
Conclusion
 Fruition - completes fruit fly management
 Fully research-based
 Outstanding impact on managing fruit fly
problems
Acknowledgements
 Griffith University
 AgNova Technologies
Complete fruit fly management
Emeritus Professor Dick Drew