ABSTRACT
The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata, is among the world’s most important agricultural pests, and strict quarantine measures are applied to prevent its entry and/or establishment in uninfested areas. Ionising radiation has been proposed as an alternative, and a dose of 150 Gy was recommended for quarantine treatment of fresh fruits against all fruit fly species in the family Tephritidae. Tsiropoulos found that melezitose metabolism was different between irradiated and nonirradiated olive fruit fly, Dacus oleae adults. Mediterranean fruit fly eggs were obtained from a laboratory colony reared on an artificial diet. Calorimetric analysis of phenoloxidase activity showed that irradiation also caused a large reduction in the activity of the enzyme in Mediterranean fruit fly larvae. The phenoloxidase assay test is also easy to perform and interpret and a very sensitive method to detect and quantify previous exposure of Mediterranean fruit fly larvae to ionising radiation.
