Effectiveness of nylon exclusion net for preventing chili fruit damage by the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel) is one of the most damaging insect pests of chili plants causing yield loss up to 90% in Indonesia. Chili growers apply insecticides so heavily that the pest has been reported resistant to insecticides in many places. Safer but more effective alternative control measures must be sought and developed. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of nylon net cage in protecting chili plants from the fruit fly attack. The study was conducted at the Experimental Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Hasanuddin University, Makassar, from January to June 2018. This experiment consisted of three treatments: plants caged with nylon net, plants sprayed weekly with insecticide, and unsprayed and uncaged plants (control plants). Treatments were arranged in a complete randomized block design with three replications and each replication consisted of four chili plants. The results showed that the use of nylon net cage provided a total protection, 0% fruit damaged by the fruit fly. In contrast, the plants sprayed with insecticide and control plants suffered fruit damage of 29.1 and 37.5%, respectively. Therefore, nylon net was effective but weekly insecticide spray was not effective in protecting the plants from the fruit fly attack.