Comparison of biological aspects of olive fly, Bactrocera oleae (Dip.: Tephritidae), on olive varieties under laboratory conditions

The olive fly, Bactrocera oleae is an important pest of olive groves. Biology of this pest was investigated on five varieties of olive under laboratory conditions at temperature 25  2C, 65  5% RH and 16L: 8D. The results showed that there is not any significant difference on the total developmental time of immature stages of olive fly reared on five olive varieties. However, developmental time of larvae on two varieties of Zard and Golouleh showed significant difference with those fed on Shenge, Roghani and Marri. The generation times estimated on Marri, Roghani, Zard, Shenge and Golouleh varieties were 93.24  5.24, 91.56  5.78, 86.74  3.92, 84.86  2.39 and 82.56  2.85 days, respectively. The mean pre-oviposition period of the fly was 5.53  0.52 days and the mean time for the female to mate once again was 10.05  0.67 days. The female oviposition rate was affected by olive varieties. The mean number of the eggs laid by each female on olive fruit varieties of Goloule, Zard, Shenge, Roghani and Marri was obtained 340  69.9, 254  20.88, 221.75  45.44, 203.25  43.5 and 110.25  50.45, correspondingly. The mean longevity of the non-feeding male and female flies was estimated 2.92  0.2 and 3.16  0.21 days and it was 75.64  6.96 and 86.16  6.18 days for well-fed male and female flies with honey and water, respectively. The mean longevity of the well-fed male and female flies decreased to 56.55  3.53 and 67.7  4.18 days, respectively, as they had matting activity and olive fruits were presented to them for female oviposition.