Trap and baiting materials for monitoring tef shoot flies, Atherigona spp. (Diptera: Muscidae) in tef (Eragrostis tef)

Abstract In an experiment five color types, four baiting materials and two trap types were consecutively evaluated from 2018/19 to 2022/23 cropping seasons inclusive, to determine their attractiveness to tef shoot fly (Atherigona spp.). Treatments were tested in Latin square design and for the latter two trials a control treatment was included for comparison. It was found that orange and green color water pan traps attracted more number of tef shoot flies than yellow, indigo and blue color traps; although, the number of tef shoot flies caught per trap per day was less than one in all color types. Moreover, more number of tef shoot flies was caught in the morning at 8:00 a.m. than in the later hours. Among the baiting materials that were tested, fish meal and chicken meat attracted greater number of tef shoot flies than lamb and beef. However, a combination of orange water pan trap and a baiting material attracted greater number of tef shoot flies than an orange water pan trap without a baiting material. The trap efficiency of fish meal baited cooking oil container trap relative to the fish meal baited orange water pan trap ranged from 3 to 25%. Depending upon season, tef crop damage by shoot flies varied from trace to 6% and there was positive association between trap catch and damage percentage. Thus traps, particularly cooking oil container trap, baited with fish meal can be used to monitor and assess tef shoot fly population in tef crop.