Production of environmentally friendly attractants for the trap flies Megaselia halterata and Lycoriella ingenue parasites on edible mushrooms in Iraq

Abstract

Among several tested mushroom-related materials, full-grown compost followed by fermented corn cobs and the compost were the best baits for attracting and catching of both insects M. halterata and L. ingenua. At the same time, there was no effect on attracting insects for the wheat straw, unfermented corn cobs, unfermented bran and water (control). The results proved that the highest attraction in the hunting of the two insects, M. halterata and L. ingenua, was in the treatment of cut fruit bodies for all studied A. bisporus strains, the highest number was 6.49 and 5.43 insects/bait; in the treatment of cut fruits of A.bisporus B62, respectively, At the level of mushroom species, the brown strain of A.bisporus showed the lowest attraction to the studied insects. Chopped fruit bodies and the spawn of some species/strains of oyster mushroom Pleurotus led to the highest interest in insects, followed by the treatment of mashed fruit bodies; the chopped fruits reached the highest attraction of insects for P. eryngii, the number of insects, M. halterata and L. ingenua, was 6.56 and 5.32 insects/bait, respectively. In the combination baits that were made from mixtures of the most efficient treatments resulting from the media and the fruit bodies of the A.bisporus and Pleurotus spp., the results showed that all treatments led to attracting the two insects at a rate of 4.55 - 8.7 insects/bait for M.halterata and 4.06 - 7.82 insects/bait for L. ingenue. The results also showed that there were significant differences in the reduction of both mushrooms A.bisporus and P. ostreatus infection rate by all types of tested baits; the lowest infection rates were in the combination bait treatment, resulting in 1.86 and 2.17%, respectively, compared to the control treatment (without bait) in which the infection rate was 87.3 and 91.25%, respectively. Keywords: Natural baits, Traps, Mushroom flies, Biological control.